The long-term effects of early track choice

Abstract

"We investigate the effcts of attending a more advanced track in middle school on long-term education and labor market outcomes for Germany, a country with a rigorous early-age tracking system, where the risk of misallocating students is particularly high. Our research design exploits quasi-random shifts between tracks induced by date of birth, and speaks to the long-term effects of early track attendance for a group of marginal students most at risk of misallocation. Remarkably, we find no evidence that attending a more advanced track leads to more favorable long-term outcomes. We attribute this result to the possibility of later track-reversal." (Author's abstract, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))

Cite article

Dustmann, C., Puhani, P. & Schönberg, U. (2017): The long-term effects of early track choice. In: The economic journal, Vol. 127, No. 603, p. 1348-1380. DOI:10.1111/ecoj.12419