IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v26y2007i3p271-284.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does examination hell pay off ? A cost-benefit analysis of "ronin" and college education in Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Ono, Hiroshi

Abstract

College-bound students in Japan undergo a process of intense preparation known as examination hell. An extreme manifestation of examination hell is the ronin phenomenon. Typically thirty percent of students choose the ronin option under which they spend years in addition to high school preparing for the next year fs college entrance examinations. Using the mean scores of the entrance examinations as a measure of college quality, I find that college quality significantly improves the internal rate of return (IRR) to college education among the sample of male graduates in Japan. Ronin increases earnings indirectly by improving the quality of the college attended. I also show that the IRR with respect to ronin is one of diminishing returns. On average, the number of ronin years which maximizes the IRR is found to be somewhere between one and two years.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Ono, Hiroshi, 2007. "Does examination hell pay off ? A cost-benefit analysis of "ronin" and college education in Japan," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 271-284, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:26:y:2007:i:3:p:271-284
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272-7757(06)00035-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Willis, Robert J & Rosen, Sherwin, 1979. "Education and Self-Selection," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages 7-36, October.
    2. Griliches, Zvi & Mason, William M, 1972. "Education, Income, and Ability," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(3), pages 74-103, Part II, .
    3. Johnson, George E & Stafford, Frank P, 1996. "On the Rate of Return to Schooling Quality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(4), pages 686-691, November.
    4. Becker, Gary S & Landes, Elisabeth M & Michael, Robert T, 1977. "An Economic Analysis of Marital Instability," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(6), pages 1141-1187, December.
    5. Gronau, Reuben, 1974. "Wage Comparisons-A Selectivity Bias," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1119-1143, Nov.-Dec..
    6. Psacharopoulos, George, 1996. "Economics of education: A research agenda," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 339-344, October.
    7. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1, June.
    8. Psacharopoulos, George (ed.), 1987. "Economics of Education," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780080333793.
    9. Hashimoto, Masanori & Raisian, John, 1985. "Employment Tenure and Earnings Profiles in Japan and the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(4), pages 721-735, September.
    10. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    11. Yoshi-Fumi Nakata & Carl Mosk, 1987. "The Demand for College Education in Postwar Japan," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 22(3), pages 377-404.
    12. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling and Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 41-63, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Maxwell, Nan L & Lopus, Jane S, 1994. "The Lake Wobegon Effect in Student Self-Reported Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 201-205, May.
    14. Jacob Mincer & Yoshio Higuchi, 1987. "Wage Structures and Labor Turnover in the U.S. and in Japan," NBER Working Papers 2306, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John Jerrim & Álvaro Choi, 2013. "The mathematics skills of school children: how does England compare to the high performing east Asian jurisdictions?," Working Papers 2013/12, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    2. Mehtabul Azam, 2016. "Private Tutoring: Evidence from India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(4), pages 739-761, November.
    3. John Jerrim & Alvaro Choi, 2013. "The mathematics skills of school children: How does England compare to the high performing East Asian jurisdictions?," DoQSS Working Papers 13-03, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    4. Stefanie Hof, 2014. "Does private tutoring work? The effectiveness of private tutoring: a nonparametric bounds analysis," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 347-366, August.
    5. Trang M. T. Phung & Quoc N. Tran & Phuong Nguyen‐Hoang & Nhut H. Nguyen & Tho H. Nguyen, 2023. "The role of learning motivation on financial knowledge among Vietnamese college students," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 529-563, January.
    6. Zheng, Xiaodong & Wang, Chengcheng & Shen, Zheng & Fang, Xiangming, 2020. "Associations of private tutoring with Chinese students’ academic achievement, emotional well-being, and parent-child relationship," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    7. ISOZUMI Koji & ITO Hirotake & NAKAMURO Makiko & YAMAGUCHI Shintaro, 2021. "Is Entering a Selective School the Ultimate Goal or Just a Start? The Effect of Ordinal Rank on Academic Achievement and College Quality in a Selective Secondary School," Discussion papers 21086, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    8. Tien Manh Vu & Hisakazu Matsushige, 2016. "Gender, Sibling Order, and Differences in the Quantity and Quality of Education: Evidence from Japanese Twins," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 147-170, June.
    9. Daiji Kawaguchi & Hiroshi Ono, 2013. "Educational Credentialism and Elite Formation in Japan: A Long-term Perspective," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd12-297, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    10. Changhui Kang & Yoonsoo Park, 2021. "Private Tutoring and Distribution of Student Academic Outcomes: An Implication of the Presence of Private Tutoring for Educational Inequality," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 37, pages 287-326.
    11. Gabriel Heller Sahlgren, 2014. "Handing Over the School Keys: The Impact of Privatisation on Education Quality," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 196-210, June.
    12. Dang, Hai-Anh H., 2013. "Private tutoring in Vietnam : a review of current issues and its major correlates," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6618, The World Bank.
    13. Arnaud LEFRANC & Fumiaki OJIMA & Takashi YOSHIDA, 2008. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Income and Education: A Comparison of Japan and France," RSCAS Working Papers 2008/25, European University Institute.
    14. John Jerrim & Álvaro Choi, 2013. "The mathematics skills of school children: how does England compare to the high performing east Asian jurisdictions?," Working Papers 2013/12, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    15. Álvaro Choi de Mendizábal & Jorge Calero Martínez & Oriol Escardíbul Ferrà, 2011. "Hell to touch the sky? Private tutoring and academic achievement in Korea," Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación volume 6, in: Antonio Caparrós Ruiz (ed.), Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 6, edition 1, volume 6, chapter 7, pages 118-134, Asociación de Economía de la Educación.
    16. Kubota, Kohei, 2016. "Effects of Japanese compulsory educational reforms on household educational expenditure," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 47-60.
    17. Zhang, Yu, 2013. "Does private tutoring improve students’ National College Entrance Exam performance?—A case study from Jinan, China," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 1-28.
    18. Seongsoo Choi, 2018. "Fewer mothers with more colleges? The impacts of expansion in higher education on first marriage and first childbirth," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(20), pages 593-634.
    19. Deockhyun Ryu & Changhui Kang, 2013. "Do Private Tutoring Expenditures Raise Academic Performance? Evidence from Middle School Students in South Korea," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 27(1), pages 59-83, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John K. Dagsvik & TorbjØrn HÆgeland & Arvid Raknerud, 2011. "Estimating the returns to schooling: a likelihood approach based on normal mixtures," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 613-640, June.
    2. Polachek, Solomon W., 2008. "Earnings Over the Life Cycle: The Mincer Earnings Function and Its Applications," Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, now publishers, vol. 4(3), pages 165-272, April.
    3. Ono, Hiroshi, 2000. "College Quality and Earnings in the Japanese Labor Market," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 395, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 11 Mar 2003.
    4. John K. Dagsvik & Torbjørn Hægeland & Arvid Raknerud, 2006. "Estimation of Earnings- and Schooling Choice Relations: A Likelihood Approach," Discussion Papers 486, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    5. Rosen, Harvey S, 1982. "Taxation and On-the-Job Training Decisions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(3), pages 442-449, August.
    6. P.W. Miller & S. Rummery, 1989. "Gender Wage Discrimination in Australia: A reassessment," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 89-21, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    7. Solomon Polachek, 2003. "Mincer's Overtaking Point and the Life Cycle Earnings Distribution," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 1(4), pages 273-304, December.
    8. B. Ben Halima & N. Chusseau & J. Hellier, 2013. "Skill Premia and Intergenerational Skill Transmission: The French Case," Working Papers 285, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    9. Marjan Petreski & Nikica Blazevski & Blagica Petreski, 2014. "Gender Wage Gap when Women are Highly Inactive: Evidence from Repeated Imputations with Macedonian Data," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 393-411, December.
    10. Cunha, Flavio & Heckman, James J., 2007. "Identifying and Estimating the Distributions of Ex Post and Ex Ante Returns to Schooling," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 870-893, December.
    11. Stacey Chen, 2001. "Is Investing in College Education Risky?," Discussion Papers 01-09, University at Albany, SUNY, Department of Economics.
    12. Meghir, Costas & Rivkin, Steven, 2011. "Econometric Methods for Research in Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 1, pages 1-87, Elsevier.
    13. Hart Robert A. & Ma Yue, 2008. "Wages, Hours and Human Capital Over the Life Cycle," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 228(5-6), pages 446-464, October.
    14. Glocker, Daniela & Storck, Johanna, 2014. "Risks and returns to educational fields – A financial asset approach to vocational and academic education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 109-129.
    15. Belzil, Christian, 2007. "The return to schooling in structural dynamic models: a survey," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(5), pages 1059-1105, July.
    16. Gonzalo Castex, 2017. "College risk and return," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 26, pages 91-112, October.
    17. Flávio Cunha & James Heckman, 2016. "Decomposing Trends in Inequality in Earnings into Forecastable and Uncertain Components," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(S2), pages 31-65.
    18. Idrisov, Georgiy (Идрисов, Георгий) & Taganov, B.V. (Таганов, Б.), 2016. "Research of the Effect of Growth of Openness of the Russian Economy on Income Inequality in Russia [Исследование Влияния Роста Открытости Российской Экономики На Неравенство Доходов Населения В Рос," Working Papers 3136, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    19. Strawinski, Pawel, 2007. "Changes In Return To Higher Education In Poland 1998-2004," MPRA Paper 5185, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Gilberto Antonelli & Roberto Antonietti & Giovanni Guidetti, 2010. "Organizational Change, Skill Formation, Human Capital Measurement: Evidence From Italian Manufacturing Firms," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 206-247, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:26:y:2007:i:3:p:271-284. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/econedurev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.