The Importance of Cognitive Abilities at Primary School for Educational and Occupational Success in the Life Course of a Dutch Generation, born around 1940.

This paper gives empirical evidence of the role of cognitive ability in social stratification by analyzing a Dutch longitudinal data set (the so-called Noord-Brabant cohort), as a contribution to the debates around The Bell Curve. Differences in early cognitive ability influence educational success. The differences in that early cognitive ability between respondents with different educational levels increase during their life course. Selection and allocation in the educational system is partly based on these differences in cognitive ability, independent of the parental background of pupils. This early cognitive ability doesn’t directly affect the selection and allocation at the labor-market, independent of the attained educational level. The same holds for income and early cognitive ability. Generally speaking differences in early cognitive abilities are more important in processes of educational attainment for men than women. Differences in cognitive ability play therefore an important role in the making and unmaking of social inequality, based on class.intelligence; income; education; occupational status;

The Effects of Immigration Policies and Labor Market Structures on the Income of Immigrants to the More Developed Countries of Europe and North America

The average household income of first generation immigrants in Europe and North-America is lower than that of natives, and this difference can not be explained by their amount of human capital (education, age, gender, residence). This is above all true for immigrants, coming from the second- or third world, who have also a lower return of their education. These arrears in income of immigrants vary between countries of destination, also after control for the individual characteristics of immigrants and natives. Only one characteristic of immigration policy has a significant effect on the variance of income arrears of immigrants across the countries of destination: the inflow ratio of asylum seekers. The higher this inflow ratio of asylum seekers in a country of destination, the larger the income differences between comparable immigrants and natives in that country of destination. Also only one characteristic of the labour market for foreigners has a significant effect on income arrears of immigrants in various countries of destination and from different countries of origin. A larger labour market participation by foreigners increases their income arrear with comparable natives, but this larger labour market participation by decreases that income arrear of the higher educated immigrant and does that extra for the higher educated immigrant from the second and third world.income; immigrants; cross-national analysis; labour market policies;

From public offices to the cultural or economic sector. How Dutch nobility kept its elite positions during the 20th century.

Dutch noble families have held more elite positions than high bourgeois families during the 20th century, and this relative advantage hardly changed over several generations. In this paper we test on of the possible explanations of this ‘constant noble advantage hypothesis’, using a sample of members of noble and high bourgeois families born in the 20th century. We assume that Dutch nobility made a strategic shift from the public sector (diplomacy, local government) towards to the private sector (financial or service sector). The analyses confirm a move by the successive generations of Dutch nobility away from public elite positions towards more elite positions in the cultural and business sector. Although this move into elite position in other sectors does not fully compensate for the decline of elite positions in the public sector, it highlights an important part of the explanation of the ‘constant noble advantage’. Dutch high bourgeoisie did not made this move outside the public sector during the same period.nobility; elite; cultural and business sector; constant noble advantage

School Achievement of Pupils From the Lower Strata in Public, Private Government-Dependent and Private Government-Independent Schools: A cross-national test of the Coleman-Hoffer thesis

We consider the question whether pupils from the lower social strata perform better in private government-dependent schools than in public or private-independent schools, using the PISA 2000 data on European high schools. In the eighty’s, Coleman and Hoffer (1987) found in the USA that the performance of these pupils was better at religious schools than at comparable public schools. Dronkers and Robert (2003) found in PISA-data for 19 comparable countries that private government-dependent schools are more effective then comparable public schools, also after controlled for characteristics of pupils and parents and the social composition of the school. The main explanation appeared to be a better school climate in private government-dependent schools. Private independent schools were less effective than comparable public schools, but only after controlling for the social composition of the school. As a follow-up we now investigate, again with the PISA-data of these 19 countries, whether this positive effect of private government-dependent schools differs between pupils from different strata. We use various indicators to measure social strata: social, cultural and economic. We expect that the thesis of Coleman & Hoffer does hold for private government-dependent schools, because in these 19 countries they are mostly religious schools, which have more opportunities to form functional communities and create social capital. But for private independent schools, which due to their commercial foundation are less often functional communities, this relation is not expected to hold. However, the results show that public and private schools have mostly the same effects for the same kind of pupils and thus mostly not favor one kind of pupils above another kind of pupils. But private government-dependent schools are slightly more effective for pupils with less cultural capital. However, private independent schools are also more effective for pupils from large families or low status families.school choice; private schools; public schools; class differential effect of schools; cross-national comparison; PISA data

School choice in the light of the effectiveness differences of various types of public and private school in 19 OECD countries

The paper approaches the issue of school choice in an indirect manner by investigating the effectiveness of public, private government-dependent and private independent schools in 19 OECD countries selected from the PISA 2000 survey for this purpose. In a multi-level approach we estimate these sector-effects, controlling for sociological characteristics of students and parents, school composition, teaching and learning conditions of schools and students’ and principals’ perception of the climate of their schools. The main explanation of the gross differences in mathematical achievement is the better social composition of private schools, both government-dependent and independent, which is a clear consequence of school choice. But our analysis also reveals that private independent schools are less effective than public schools with the same students, parents and social composition, while that private dependent schools are more effective than comparable public schools. The explanation of these remaining net differences in mathematical achievement seems to be the better school climate of private dependent schools. The comparison concludes that these net differences in mathematical achievement between public and private school-sectors are equal across nations, despite the historical and legal variations in their educational systems and school choice approaches.school choice; school effectiveness; public versus private schools; cross-national comparison; secondary education; PISA data

Choice and Effectiveness of Private and Public Schools in six countries. A reanalysis of three PISA data sets

In international comparative studies on academic achievement, the distinction between private government-dependent schools and private-independent schools has been proven particularly important for understanding the differences in the effectiveness of the private and public school sectors. Despite the fact that higher achievement scores in the private sector are mainly due to their intake selectivity, private-dependent schools tend to outperform public school in most countries if these differences are taken into account. Using a more rigorous statistical technique to control for selectivity in the analysis of three PISA data sets, it is demonstrated that the substantive advantage in the efficacy of private-dependent schools compared to public schools remains for Germany and the Netherlands.private schools; public schools; PISA data; cross-national comparison; educational achievement