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Jailer of Freedom and Enemy of Growth? The Role of Personal and Social Identities in Educational Choices

Author

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  • Autiero, Giuseppina

    (University of Salerno)

  • O'Higgins, Niall

    (ILO International Labour Organization)

Abstract

This paper develops a theoretical and empirical model on the influence of identity on educational choices which extends the existing literature in several directions. The theoretical model proposed here allows schooling choices to be independently influenced by both personal and social identities and, in contrast to previous work, the proposed empirical counterpart is derived directly from the theoretical model. The use of UK's British Cohort Study on individuals born in 1970 allows us to identify with precision the relevant explanatory factors and to appropriately control for potentially confounding factors. Both social and personal identities are found to have substantial and statistically significant effects on educational participation decisions and these impacts are robust to a variety of specifications. The key implication is that socio-psychological factors play an important role in children's school performance through their direct influence on the utility derived from studying.

Suggested Citation

  • Autiero, Giuseppina & O'Higgins, Niall, 2013. "Jailer of Freedom and Enemy of Growth? The Role of Personal and Social Identities in Educational Choices," IZA Discussion Papers 7792, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7792
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Barón, Juan D. & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A., 2010. "Are Young People's Educational Outcomes Linked to their Sense of Control?," IZA Discussion Papers 4907, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    10. Giuseppina Autiero, 2015. "Social and Personal Identities: Their Influence on Scholastic Effort," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(1), pages 19-33, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Giuseppina Autiero, 2017. "Ethnic identity and scholastic effort: a multifaceted approach," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-13, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    identity; educational choice; locus of control;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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