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The Fall of the Aspirations Wall: Educational Aspirations, Achievement and Societal Change

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  • Ghazala Azmat
  • Katja M. Kaufmann

Abstract

We use the German Reunification “experiment” to study how an exogenously changed environment (from state socialism to capitalist democracy) a ects aspirations and future outcomes. We analyze whether, and how quickly, individuals’ educational aspirations adapt, their long-term impact and the underlying mechanisms. Using di erences across cohorts induced by Reunification timing, we show that shortly after, educational aspirations among high school students in East Germany increase substantially and translate into sizable increases of completing university entrance certificate five years later. Perceived educational returns, economic preferences (“consumerism”), socio-political attitudes (“individualism”) and psychological well-being adapt quickly and are directly linked to changes in aspirations.

Suggested Citation

  • Ghazala Azmat & Katja M. Kaufmann, 2020. "The Fall of the Aspirations Wall: Educational Aspirations, Achievement and Societal Change," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2020_207, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2020_207
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    File URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp207
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    Keywords

    Aspirations; education; perceived returns; economic; social and political preferences; psychological well-being; German Reunification.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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