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Test scores and economic growth: update and extension

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  • Heller-Sahlgren, Gabriel
  • Jordahl, Henrik

Abstract

Research indicates that education quality–measured by test scores in international student surveys–predicts economic growth. In this paper, we extend previous findings up to 2016 and analyse test scores of upper-secondary school students only. We find that the positive relationship between growth and test scores holds in both cases. The share of top-performing students exhibits a stronger correlation with economic growth than does the share of students who meet basic requirements.

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  • Heller-Sahlgren, Gabriel & Jordahl, Henrik, 2023. "Test scores and economic growth: update and extension," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118145, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:118145
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/118145/
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Eric Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2012. "Do better schools lead to more growth? Cognitive skills, economic outcomes, and causation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 267-321, December.
    2. Nicola Gennaioli & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2013. "Human Capital and Regional Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 105-164.
    3. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 407-443.
    4. Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2008. "The Role of Cognitive Skills in Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(3), pages 607-668, September.
    5. Mikael Lindahl & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Education for Growth: Why and for Whom?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1101-1136, December.
    6. Inklaar, Robert & de Jong, Harmen & Bolt, Jutta & van Zanden, Jan, 2018. "Rebasing 'Maddison': new income comparisons and the shape of long-run economic development," GGDC Research Memorandum GD-174, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    7. Ludger Wößmann, 2003. "Specifying Human Capital," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 239-270, July.
    8. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    9. Hanushek, Eric A. & Woessmann, Ludger, 2012. "Schooling, educational achievement, and the Latin American growth puzzle," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 497-512.
    10. Hanushek, Eric A. & Woessmann, Ludger, 2015. "The Knowledge Capital of Nations: Education and the Economics of Growth," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262029170, December.
    11. Castelló-Climent, Amparo & Hidalgo-Cabrillana, Ana, 2012. "The role of educational quality and quantity in the process of economic development," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 391-409.
    12. Xavier Sala-I-Martin & Gernot Doppelhofer & Ronald I. Miller, 2004. "Determinants of Long-Term Growth: A Bayesian Averaging of Classical Estimates (BACE) Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 813-835, September.
    13. Balart, Pau & Oosterveen, Matthijs & Webbink, Dinand, 2018. "Test scores, noncognitive skills and economic growth," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 134-153.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hammed Musibau & Joaquin Vespignani & Maria Belen Yanotti, 2024. "Education Quality and Economic Growth: A New International Measure of Quality of Education," CAMA Working Papers 2024-72, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    2. Juan Manuel Ocegueda Hernández & Marco Tulio Ocegueda Hernández, 2024. "La calidad del capital humano y el crecimiento económico de México/The quality of human capital and economic growth in Mexico," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 39(2), pages 311–348-3.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic growth; education; PISA; TIMSS; top-performing students;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

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