College major choice and ability: why is general ability not enough?.

The choice of college major is one of the most important decisions students make. In this paper we study the impact of ability on college major choice, using a data set for full-time students enrolled in four-year business and economics programs offered by the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana. We distinguish between general and major-specific ability, which measure different dimensions of cognitive ability. We show that both measures are important in explaining individual decisions and that misleading results can follow from observing only commonly employed general ability. We also find important gender differences as males are more likely to base their major choice on the ability to complete the coursework, while females are more likely to decide according to unobserved preferences.college majors, ability, gender differences;

Exports and Productivity: Comparable Evidence for 14 Countries

We use comparable micro level panel data for 14 countries and a set of identically specified empirical models to investigate the relationship between exports and productivity. Our overall results are in line with the big picture that is by now familiar from the literature: Exporters are more productive than non-exporters when observed and unobserved heterogeneity are controlled for, and these exporter productivity premia tend to increase with the share of exports in total sales; there is strong evidence in favour of self-selection of more productive firms into export markets, but nearly no evidence in favour of the learning-by-exporting hypothesis. We document that the exporter premia differ considerably across countries in identically specified empirical models. In a meta-analysis of our results we find that countries that are more open and have more effective government report higher productivity premia. However, the level of development per se does not appear to be an explanation for the observed cross-country differences.exports; productivity; micro data; international comparison

Convergence at Last? Evidence From Transition Countries

This article reexamines the hypotheses of absolute and conditional convergence for a sample of twenty-five transition countries over the period from 1990 to 2002. After splitting the sample into three four-year periods, the hypotheses are confirmed only for the latest period of transition. For the early transition stage, we find a negative relation between productivity growth, on one hand, and the pace of price liberalization and initial conditions, measured by initial market distortions, on the other hand. In addition, past/ lagged institutional reforms are found to enhance productivity growth in the intermediate and advanced stages of transition. The confirmation of convergence for the latest stage of transition, however, should not yet be considered as a sign of a permanent return to convergence in these countries as it could be the result of differences in the transition cycles

Supply side mechanisms in transition

Defence date: 16 February 2006Examining board: Prof. Giuseppe Bertola, Università di Torino, supervisor ; Prof. Fabrizio Coricelli, Università di Siena ; Prof. Jozef Konings, Catholic University of Leuven ; Prof. Omar Licandro, EUIPDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 201

Does work harm academic performance of students? Evidence using propensity score matching

In this article we analyze the effects of student work on academic performance for college students. In order to reduce the endogeneity bias due to selection into treatment, we use propensity score matching technique. This approach allows us to estimate the average treatment effects on the treated separately for different years of study, which is not possible when inside instruments are used to deal with endogeneity of student work. We find predominantly negative treatment effects for all measures of academic performance (GPA, exam attempts, exams passed, and likelihood of passing a year), although many of these are economically and statistically insignificant. We supplement existing studies that do not estimate separate treatment effects for different years of study by showing that work while in college harms study outcomes mostly in the first year of study—by passing smaller number of exams and thereby increasing the likelihood of failing a year. Our results are consistent with evidence on difficulty with adjusting to college studies of first-year students, who face many uncertainties that affect finding the optimal allocation of time between studies, work and leisure.status: publishe

College major choice and ability: why is general ability not enough?

In this paper we study the impact of cognitive ability on college major choices using an administrative data set for full-time students enrolled in four-year business and economics programs offered by the largest Slovenian university. In contrast to existing studies, we are able to distinguish between general ability, measured with high school GPA, and major-specific ability, measured with grades achieved in major-specific courses. We show that students with higher general ability are more likely to enroll in Economics majors, while higher major specific ability (e.g. higher grade in Accounting) increases the likelihood of choosing that major (Accounting). We also find that both genders are more responsive to measured major-specific ability in majors that are traditionally more popular among them (e.g. Business Informatics for males). These results suggest that policy makers aiming to change the structure of the labor supply should attempt to change the major-specific abilities of students. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.status: publishe

College Major Choice and Ability: Why is General Ability not Enough?

The choice of college major is one of the most important decisions students make. In this paper we study the impact of ability on college major choice,using a data set for full-time students enrolled in four-year business and economics programs offered by the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana. We distinguish between general and major-specific ability, which measure different dimensions of cognitive ability. We show that both measures are important in explaining individual decisions and that misleading results can follow from observing only commonly employed general ability. We also find important gender differences as males are more likely to base their major choice on the ability to complete coursework, while females are more likely to decide according to unobserved preferences.College Majors, Ability, Gender Differences

Innovativeness and intabibles in transition: case of Slovenia

© 2014 The Authors. The article presents the micro data on intangibles for Slovenia during the period 1994–2005 using an augmented method by Corrado et al. and analyses the role of intangibles in the Slovenian economy during the transition. By examining the organisational, information and communication technologies (ICT) and research and development (R&D) component of intangibles, we observe a decrease in the value of R&D capital that was to some extent offset by an increase in the value of ICT capital. We find that organisational workers had higher productivity than the average worker. The dynamic of change was gradual during the transition. The capitalisation of intangibles implied an average 4.5% increase of gross domestic product (GDP) for the new member states. Nonetheless, a worrying convergence can be observed between the tangible and the intangible capital. One can thus expect the intangibles have an important role in the future growth in Slovenia and across the European countries, but only if proper attention is devoted to them in terms of policy measures and regulation.status: publishe

Pay me right: reference values and executive compensation

status: publishe