Evaluating continuous training programmes by using the generalized propensity score

Summary: The paper assesses the heterogeneity of treatment effects arising from variation in the duration of training. We use German administrative data that have the extraordinary feature that the amount of treatment varies continuously from 10 days to 395 days (i.e. 13 months). This feature allows us to estimate a continuous dose- response function that relates each value of the dose, i.e. days of training, to the individual post-treatment probability of employment (the response). The dose-response function is estimated after adjusting for covariate imbalance by using the generalized propensity score, which is a recently developed method for covariate adjustment under continuous treatment regimes. Our data have the advantage that we can consider both the actual and the planned durations of training as treatment variables: if only actual durations are observed, treatment effect estimates may be biased because of endogenous exits. Our results indicate an increasing dose-response function for treatments of up to 120 days, which then flattens out, i.e. longer training programmes do not seem to add an additional treatment effect

When the Early Bird Catches the Worm: The Impact of Training in Retail

We econometrically evaluate the performance effects of a six month e-learning programme in a large retail chain with monthly data on sales revenue, for four years using panel regressions. Participants in early cohorts show positive performance effects during training periods that depreciate afterwards. We conclude that offering training on a voluntary basis leads participants with the highest expected idiosyncratic gains and the highest talent to self-select into early participation. As performance effects already unfold during training, our findings put forward the importance of continuous training with close coaching unlike single training incidences.evaluation, company training, e-learning, average treatment effect, average treatment effect on the treated, selection effect, continuous learning, continuous vocational training

Differentiable Scheduled Sampling for Credit Assignment

We demonstrate that a continuous relaxation of the argmax operation can be used to create a differentiable approximation to greedy decoding for sequence-to-sequence (seq2seq) models. By incorporating this approximation into the scheduled sampling training procedure (Bengio et al., 2015)--a well-known technique for correcting exposure bias--we introduce a new training objective that is continuous and differentiable everywhere and that can provide informative gradients near points where previous decoding decisions change their value. In addition, by using a related approximation, we demonstrate a similar approach to sampled-based training. Finally, we show that our approach outperforms cross-entropy training and scheduled sampling procedures in two sequence prediction tasks: named entity recognition and machine translation.Comment: Accepted at ACL2017 (http://bit.ly/2oj1muX

The Returns to Continuous Training in Germany: New Evidence from Propensity Score Matching Estimators

The present paper examines the wage effects of continuous training programs using individual-level data from the German Socio Economic Panel (GSOEP). In order to account for selectivity in training participation we estimate average treatment effects (ATE and ATT) of general and firm-specific continuous training programs using several state-of-the-art propensity score matching (PSM) estimators. Additionally, we also apply a combined matching difference-indifferences (MDiD) estimator to account for unobserved individual characteristics (e.g. motivation, ability). While the estimated ATE and ATT for general training are significant ranging between about 4 and 7.5 %, the corresponding wage effects of firm-specific training are mostly insignificant. Using the more appropriate MDiD estimator, however, we find a more precise and highly significant wage effect of about 5 to 6 %, though only for general training and not for firm-specific training. These results are consistent with standard human capital theory insofar as general training is associated with larger wage increases than firm-specific training. Furthermore, we conclude that firms may intend to use specific training to adjust to new job requirements, while career-relevant changes may be conditioned to general training. --Continuous training,wage effect,average treatment effect,selectivity bias,propensity score matching estimators

Sprint interval and sprint continuous training increases circulating CD34+ cells and cardio-respiratory fitness in young healthy women

The improvement of vascular health in the exercising limb can be attained by sprint interval training (SIT). However, the effects on systemic vascular function and on circulating angiogenic cells (CACs) which may contribute to endothelial repair have not been investigated. Additionally, a comparison between SIT and sprint continuous training (SCT) which is less time committing has not been made

GUIDE FOR DESIGNING A CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM

Professional training is essential for the success of any modern productive organization, regardless of its field of activity. This statement is accepted, more or less tacitly, or even acclaimed, by most administrative boards and top managers (who otherwise do not even dare to state that contrary of this “fashionable” idea) or even by an important part of the trained personnel who are in executive functions. This is also due to the fact that several management studies conducted with different instruments and from different perspectives, confirm the idea that human resources – respectively the quality of professional training on the knowledge, abilities and attitudes plan – are often decisive for reaching the goals set at the workplace, implicitly so that the organizations perform in a certain field of activity.professional training, adult education, training program

The Returns to Continuous Training in Germany: New Evidence from Propensity Score Matching Estimators

The present paper examines the wage effects of continuous training programs using individual-level data from the German Socio Economic Panel (GSOEP). In order to account for selectivity in training participation we estimate average treatment effects (ATE and ATT) of general and firm-specific continuous training programs using several state-of-the-art propensity score matching (PSM) estimators. Additionally, we also apply a combined matching difference-in-differences (MDiD) estimator to account for unobserved individual characteristics (e.g. motivation, ability). While the estimated ATE and ATT for general training are significant ranging between about 4 and 7.5 %, the corresponding wage effects of firm-specific training are mostly insignificant. Using the more appropriate MDiD estimator, however, we find a more precise and highly significant wage effect of about 5 to 6 %, though only for general training and not for firm-specific training. These results are consistent with standard human capital theory insofar as general training is associated with larger wage increases than firm-specific training. Furthermore, we conclude that firms may intend to use specific training to adjust to new job requirements, while career-relevant changes may be conditioned to general training.Continuous training; wage effect; average treatment effect; selectivity bias; propensity score matching estimators; combined matching difference-in-differences estimator.