Weak Markets, Strong Teachers: Recession at Career Start and Teacher Effectiveness

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Nagler, Markus; Piopiunik, Marc; West, Martin R.
• 署名单位: University of Erlangen Nuremberg; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/705883
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 453-500
• 关键词: opportunities; inference; outcomes; QUALITY; impacts; determinants; ECONOMICS; decline; skills; pay

摘要

How do alternative job opportunities affect teacher quality? We provide causal evidence on this question by exploiting business cycle conditions at career start as a source of exogenous variation in the outside options of potential teachers. Unlike prior research, we directly assess teacher quality with value-added measures of impacts on student test scores, using administrative data on over 30,000 Florida public school teachers. Consistent with a Roy model of occupational choice, teachers entering the profession during recessions are significantly more effective in raising student test scores. Results are supported by robustness tests and unlikely to be driven by differential attrition.