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Education reforms and adult skills: Evidence from Estonia

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  • Byrne, Kieran
  • Plekhanov, Alexander

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of education reforms in Estonia in the 1990s on adult skills using the OECD PIAAC surveys. Estonia implemented extensive education reforms in the early 1990s throughout Estonian-speaking schools while Russian-speaking schools were exposed to less comprehensive reforms, which were implemented later. A large minority of Estonia’s population at the time was enrolled in Russian-speaking schools providing a unique opportunity to measure the impact of education reforms on literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills among adults by comparing improvements in PIAAC performance among Estonian and Russian speakers. Difference-in-difference estimation suggests that the reforms led to an adult skill dividend of around 15 to 30 percent of a standard deviation. This translates to a wage (productivity) premium of around 5 to 12 percent.

Suggested Citation

  • Byrne, Kieran & Plekhanov, Alexander, 2021. "Education reforms and adult skills: Evidence from Estonia," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:82:y:2021:i:c:s027277572100025x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102106
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    1. Linda Glawe & Carlos Mendez, 2023. "Schooling Ain’t Learning in Europe: A Club Convergence Perspective," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(2), pages 324-361, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education reforms; Adult skills; Productivity growth; Human capital; PIAAC;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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