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Culture and Student Achievement: The Intertwined Roles of Patience and Risk-Taking

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  • Eric A. Hanushek
  • Lavinia Kinne
  • Philipp Lergetporer
  • Ludger Woessmann

Abstract

Patience and risk-taking – two cultural traits that steer intertemporal decision-making – are fundamental to human capital investment decisions. To understand how they contribute to international differences in student achievement, we combine PISA tests with the Global Preference Survey. We find that opposing effects of patience (positive) and risk-taking (negative) together account for two-thirds of the cross-country variation in student achievement. In an identification strategy addressing unobserved residence-country features, we find similar results when assigning migrant students their country-of-origin cultural traits in models with residence-country fixed effects. Associations of culture with family and school inputs suggest that both may act as channels.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric A. Hanushek & Lavinia Kinne & Philipp Lergetporer & Ludger Woessmann, 2020. "Culture and Student Achievement: The Intertwined Roles of Patience and Risk-Taking," CESifo Working Paper Series 8407, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8407
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    Cited by:

    1. Eric A. Hanushek & Lavinia Kinne & Philipp Lergetporer & Ludger Wößmann, 2020. "Der Einfluss von Geduld und Risikobereitschaft auf internationale Unterschiede in schulischen Leistungen," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 73(10), pages 33-36, October.
    2. Angerer, Silvia & Bolvashenkova, Jana & Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela & Lergetporer, Philipp & Sutter, Matthias, 2023. "Children’s patience and school-track choices several years later: Linking experimental and field data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    3. Hanson, Gordon & Liu, Chen, 2023. "Immigration and occupational comparative advantage," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    4. Isabella Dobrescu & Alberto Motta & Richard Holden & Adrian Piccoli, 2021. "Cultural Context in Standardized Tests," Discussion Papers 2021-08, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    5. Davoli, Maddalena & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2021. "Preferences, Financial Literacy, and Economic Development," IZA Discussion Papers 14759, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Etienne Dagorn & David Masclet & Thierry Penard, 2022. "The Behavioral Determinants of School Achievement: A Lab in the Field Experiment in Middle School," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes & University of Caen) 2022-05, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes, University of Caen and CNRS.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    culture; patience; risk-taking; preferences; intertemporal decision-making; international student achievement; PISA;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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