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Maturity and School Outcomes in an Inflexible System: Evidence from Catalonia

Author

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  • Caterina Calsamiglia

    (CEMFI and Barcelona GSE)

  • Annalisa Loviglio

    (UAB and Barcelona GSE)

Abstract

Having a unique cut-off to determine when children can access school induces a large heterogeneity in maturity to coexist in a classroom. We use rich administrative data of the universe of public schools in Catalonia to show that: 1) Relatively younger children do significantly worse both in tests administered at the school level and at the regional level, and they experience greater retention; 2) Younger children in our data exhibit higher dropout rates and chose the academic track in secondary school less often; 3) The effect is homogeneous across SES and significant across the whole ability distribution; 4) Younger children are more frequently diagnosed with learning disabilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Caterina Calsamiglia & Annalisa Loviglio, 2016. "Maturity and School Outcomes in an Inflexible System: Evidence from Catalonia," Working Papers wp2016_1613, CEMFI.
    • Handle: RePEc:cmf:wpaper:wp2016_1613
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Berniell, Inés & Estrada, Ricardo, 2020. "Poor little children: The socioeconomic gap in parental responses to school disadvantage," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Rubén Navarro-Patón & Silvia Pueyo Villa & Juan Luis Martín-Ayala & Mariacarla Martí González & Marcos Mecías-Calvo, 2021. "Is Quarter of Birth a Risk Factor for Developmental Coordinator Disorder in Preschool Children?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-10, May.
    3. Calsamiglia, Caterina & Loviglio, Annalisa, 2019. "Grading on a curve: When having good peers is not good," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    4. Sergi Sánchez-Coll, 2023. "Born this way: the effect of an unexpected child benefit at birth on longer-term educational outcomes," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 105-141, March.
    5. Caterina Calsamiglia & Annalisa Loviglio, 2017. "Grading on a Curve: When Having Good Peers is not Good," Working Papers wp2018_1704, CEMFI.
    6. Cristina Borra & Libertad González & David Patiño, 2024. "Mothers' school starting age and infant health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(6), pages 1153-1191, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Human capital; educational economics; kindergarten cutoff.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare

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