Patience and Subnational Differences in Human Capital: Regional Analysis with Facebook Interests

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Hanushek, Eric A.; Kinne, Lavinia; Sancassani, Pietro; Woessmann, Ludger
• 署名单位: Stanford University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; IZA Institute Labor Economics; Leibniz Association; DIW Berlin - Deutsches Institut fur Wirtschaftsforschung; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; University of Munich
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueaf045
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: impatience; preferences; origins; STATES

摘要

Decisions to invest in human capital depend on people's time preferences. This paper shows that differences in patience are closely related to substantial subnational differences in educational achievement, leading to new perspectives on long-standing within-country disparities. We use social media data-Facebook interests-to construct novel regional measures of patience within Italy and the United States. The approach is first validated with a cross-country analysis of patience and Facebook interests. We then show that patience is strongly positively associated with student achievement across regions in both countries, accounting for three-quarters of the achievement variation across Italian regions and one-third across US states. The finding is confirmed in an identification strategy employing variation in ancestry countries of the current populations of US states. Results hold for six other countries with more limited regional achievement data.