Money Matters - Evidence from a Large-Scale Randomized Field Experiment with Vouchers for Adult Training

This paper presents the results of a randomized experiment analyzing the use of vouchers for adult training. In 2006, 2,400 people were issued with a training voucher which they were entitled to use in payment for a training course of their choice. User behavior was compared with a control group of 14,000 people. People in the treatment and in the control group were not aware at any time that they were part of an experiment. The experiment shows that the voucher had a significant causal impact on participation in training modules. Nevertheless, the increase was partially offset by a deadweight loss in excess of fifty percent.field experiment, voucher, adult education, training, Switzerland

Are student exchange programs worth it?

The number of university students participating in exchange programs has risen sharply over the last decade. A survey of Swiss university graduates (classes of 1999 and 2001) shows that participation in student exchange programs depends significantly on the socio-economic background of students. We further analyze whether the participants benefit from additional advantages caused by these exchange programs. Analyses show that student exchange programs are associated with higher starting salaries and a higher likelihood of opting for postgraduate degrees. Analyses using instrumental variable estimations (IV), however, show that these outcomes are not causally related to participation in exchange program

Effects of Adult Education Vouchers on the Labor Market: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

Lifelong learning is often promoted in ageing societies, but little is known about its returns or governments' ability to advance it. This paper evaluates the effects of a large-scale randomized field experiment issuing vouchers for adult education in Switzerland. We find no significant average effects of voucher-induced adult education on earnings, employment, and subsequent education one year after treatment. But effects are heterogeneous: Low- education individuals are most likely to profit from adult education, but least likely to use the voucher. The findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of existing untargeted voucher programs in promoting labor market outcomes through adult education.adult education, voucher, field experiment, LATE, Switzerland

A Gift is not Always a Gift: Gift Exchange in a Voucher Experiment

Different from traditional gift exchange experiments, we study a field experiment where a random subsample of participants in the Swiss Labor Force Survey was sent vouchers to be used in adult training courses. Importantly for our purposes, actual voucher redemption can be traced. This gives the unique opportunity to study whether gift exchange in the form of participation in future rounds of the survey depends on the perceived usefulness of the gift. We find that the group of voucher recipients as a whole has significantly higher response rates in the survey six months after the vouchers were sent out. There is considerable heterogeneity, though. Our results point to a long-lasting gift exchange relationship for the sub-group that had redeemed their vouchers. Contrary to this group, the individuals who did not redeem their vouchers, had a response pattern that was not significantly different from the voucher non-recipients.gift exchange, reciprocity, field experiment, long-run effects

Effects of Adult Education Vouchers on the Labor Market: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

Lifelong learning is often promoted in ageing societies, but little is known about its returns or governments’ ability to advance it. This paper evaluates the effects of a large-scale randomized field experiment issuing vouchers for adult education in Switzerland. We find no significant average effects of voucher-induced adult education on earnings, employment, and subsequent education one year after treatment. But effects are heterogeneous: Low-education individuals are most likely to profit from adult education, but least likely to use the voucher. The findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of existing untargeted voucher programs in promoting labor market outcomes through adult education.field experiment, voucher, adult education, LATE, Switzerland

Range-wide variation in grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) skull morphology

The large interspecific variation in marine mammal skull and dental morphology reflects ecological specialisa-tions to foraging and communication. At the intraspecific level, the drivers of skull shape variation are less well understood, having implications for identifying putative local foraging adaptations and delineating populations and subspecies for taxonomy, systematics, management and conservation. Here, we assess the range-wide intraspecific variation in 71 grey seal skulls by 3D surface scanning, collection of cranial landmarks and geo-metric morphometric analysis. We find that skull shape differs slightly between populations in the Northwest Atlantic, Northeast Atlantic and Baltic Sea. However, there was a large shape overlap between populations and variation was substantially larger among animals within populations than between. We hypothesize that this pattern of intraspecific variation in grey seal skull shape results from balancing selection or phenotypic plasticity allowing for a remarkably generalist foraging behaviour. Moreover, the large overlap in skull shape between populations implies that the separate subspecies status of Atlantic and Baltic Sea grey seals is questionable from a morphological point of view.Peer reviewe

Studienabbrüche an Schweizer Universitäten

In der vorliegenden Studie werden vertiefte Analysen des Studienabbruchs an Schweizer Universitäten für die Studierendenkohorten zwischen 1975 und 2008 präsentiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die meisten identifizierbaren Faktoren, die mit einer grösseren oder kleineren Wahrscheinlichkeit eines Studienabbruchs einhergehen, identisch sind mit jenen, die auch in einer internationalen Literaturevaluation (Systematic Review) gefunden wurden. Die wichtigsten Erkenntnisse lassen sich so zusammenfassen, dass sich erstens seit den 70er Jahren ein Trend zu rückläufigen Abbruchquoten feststellen lässt; dieser ist mehrheitlich auf die weiblichen Studierenden zurückzuführen, die heute eine tiefere Abbruchquote als ihre männlichen Kommilitonen aufweisen. Zweitens lassen sich neben den studienfachspezifischen Abbruchquoten auch Unterschiede zwischen den Maturitätsprofilen feststellen, die einen Hinweis darauf liefern, dass die Kompetenzen vor Studienbeginn einen grossen Einfluss auf den Studienerfolg haben. In diese Richtung deutet auch der Einfluss der kantonalen Maturitätsquote, die mit dem Abbruchrisiko positiv korreliert. Drittens sind vor allem Studierende, die ihr als erstes gewähltes Studienfach wechseln, einem substantiellen Abbruchrisiko ausgesetzt. Bezüglich der Bologna-Reform lässt sich noch keine abschliessende Beurteilung vornehmen, aber anhand der Studienfächer, welche zwischen 2001 und 2003 auf das Bachelor-/Mastersystem umgestellt haben, lässt sich keine einheitliche reformbedingte Reduktion der Abbruchquoten feststellen. Die beiden wichtigen Themen, die sich mit den vorhandenen Daten nicht bearbeiten lassen, sind einerseits die Wirkung der akademischen Leistung während des Studiums auf das Abbruchrisiko und andererseits die Folgen der Studienabbrüche, d.h. die Frage, wie gewichtig die Konsequenzen eines Studienabbruchs für die Betroffenen und die Gesellschaft überhaupt sind. Es wäre entscheidend, vor allem ersteres besser untersuchen zu können, um so eine Antwort auf die Frage zu finden, wie viele der heute stattfindenden Abbrüche sich dank einer veränderten Organisation des Studiums oder anderen Massnahmen vermeiden liessen. (DIPF/Orig.