IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bon/boncrc/crctr224_2025_674.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Effect of Compulsory Education on non-Cognitive Skills: Evidence from Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Antonia K. Entorf
  • Thomas J. Dohmen

Abstract

Personality traits, preferences, and attitudes significantly influence labor market outcomes, and these non‐cognitive skills are shaped by the social environment. While curriculum interventions can impact these skills, the effect of compulsory education on noncognitive skills is less well understood. This study investigates the impact of extending compulsory education by examining educational reforms in four low‐ and middle‐income countries. Utilizing cross‐sectional data from the World Bank’s 2012/2013 initiative, we analyze the within‐country variation in compulsory education years. Our findings indicate that increased compulsory education decreases emotional stability, grit, hostile attribution bias, patience, and willingness to take risks, while enhancing openness to experience and alternative solution or consequential thinking.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonia K. Entorf & Thomas J. Dohmen, 2025. "The Effect of Compulsory Education on non-Cognitive Skills: Evidence from Low- and Middle-Income Countries," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2025_674, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_674
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp674
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yoav Benjamini & Abba M. Krieger & Daniel Yekutieli, 2006. "Adaptive linear step-up procedures that control the false discovery rate," Biometrika, Biometrika Trust, vol. 93(3), pages 491-507, September.
    2. Piopiunik, Marc & Schwerdt, Guido & Simon, Lisa & Woessmann, Ludger, 2020. "Skills, signals, and employability: An experimental investigation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    3. Matteo Cervellati & Uwe Sunde, 2013. "Life Expectancy, Schooling, and Lifetime Labor Supply: Theory and Evidence Revisited," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(5), pages 2055-2086, September.
    4. Utteeyo Dasgupta & Subha Mani & Smriti Sharma & Saurabh Singhal, 2022. "Effects of Peers and Rank on Cognition, Preferences, and Personality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(3), pages 587-601, May.
    5. Cornelissen, Thomas & Dang, Thang, 2022. "The multigenerational impacts of educational expansion: Evidence from Vietnam," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    6. Lorenzo Cappellari & Daniele Checchi & Marco Ovidi, 2022. "The effects of schooling on cognitive skills: evidence from education expansions," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def122, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    7. Jiang, Wei & Lu, Yi & Xie, Huihua, 2020. "Education and mental health: Evidence and mechanisms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 407-437.
    8. Christine Blandhol & John Bonney & Magne Mogstad & Alexander Torgovitsky, 2022. "When is TSLS Actually LATE?," NBER Working Papers 29709, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Antonia K. Entorf & Thomas J. Dohmen, 2025. "The Effect of Compulsory Education on Non-Cognitive Skills: Evidence from Low- and Middle-Income Countries," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 357, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    2. Hervé, Justine & Mani, Subha & Behrman, Jere R. & Laxminarayan, Ramanan & Nandi, Arindam, 2024. "Food Coma Is Real: The Effect of Digestive Fatigue on Adolescents' Cognitive Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 16909, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Hervé, Justine & Mani, Subha & Behrman, Jere R. & Nandi, Arindam & Lamkang, Anjana Sankhil & Laxminarayan, Ramanan, 2022. "Gender gaps in cognitive and noncognitive skills among adolescents in India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 66-97.
    4. Hervé, Justine & Mani, Subha & Behrman, Jere R. & Nandi, Arindam & Sankhil Lamkang, Anjana & Laxminarayan, Ramanan, 2021. "Gender Gaps in Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills: Roles of SES and Gender Attitudes," IZA Discussion Papers 14132, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Altmejd, Adam, 2023. "Inheritance of fields of study," Working Paper Series 2023:11, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    6. Elira Kuka, 2020. "Quantifying the Benefits of Social Insurance: Unemployment Insurance and Health," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(3), pages 490-505, July.
    7. Chen, Yi & Zhao, Yi, 2022. "The timing of first marriage and subsequent life outcomes: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 713-731.
    8. Romain Gauriot Author e-mail: romain.gauriot@nyu.edu & Lionel Page Author e-mail: lionel.page@uts.edu.au, 2021. "How Market Prices React to Information: Evidence from Binary Options Markets," Working Papers 20200058, New York University Abu Dhabi, Department of Social Science, revised Oct 2021.
    9. Renske Stans & Laura Ehrmantraut & Malin Siemers & Pia Pinger, 2025. "The Impact of Higher Education on Employer Perceptions," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2025_665, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    10. Michael L. Anderson & Fangwen Lu, 2017. "Learning to Manage and Managing to Learn: The Effects of Student Leadership Service," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(10), pages 3246-3261, October.
    11. Daniel Yekutieli, 2008. "Comments on: Control of the false discovery rate under dependence using the bootstrap and subsampling," TEST: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 17(3), pages 458-460, November.
    12. Banerjee, Abhijit & Barnhardt, Sharon & Duflo, Esther, 2018. "Can iron-fortified salt control anemia? Evidence from two experiments in rural Bihar," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 127-146.
    13. Emilio Depetris-Chauvin & Ömer Özak, 2020. "The origins of the division of labor in pre-industrial times," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 297-340, September.
    14. Annarita BALDANZI & Alberto BUCCI & Klaus PRETTNER, 2016. "The Effects of Health Investments on Human Capital and R&D-Driven Economic Growth," Departmental Working Papers 2016-17, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    15. Fernández Guerrico, Sofía, 2021. "The effects of trade-induced worker displacement on health and mortality in Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    16. Daniel Bjorkegren & Joshua Blumenstock & Omowunmi Folajimi-Senjobi & Jacqueline Mauro & Suraj R. Nair, 2022. "Instant Loans Can Lift Subjective Well-Being: A Randomized Evaluation of Digital Credit in Nigeria," Papers 2202.13540, arXiv.org.
    17. Chen, Yuanyuan & Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming & Smyth, Russell, 2023. "Education and Migrant Health in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    18. Samuel Bazzi & Lisa Cameron & Simone Schaner & Firman Witoelar, 2021. "Information, Intermediaries, and International Migration," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2021n30, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    19. Cattaneo, Cristina & Grieco, Daniela, 2021. "Turning opposition into support to immigration: The role of narratives," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 785-801.
    20. Blimpo, Moussa P. & Pugatch, Todd, 2021. "Entrepreneurship education and teacher training in Rwanda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Non‐cognitive skills; Education; Wage returns; Personality; Economic preferences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

    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:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_674. 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: CRC Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.crctr224.de .

    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.