In a Small Moment: Class Size and Moral Hazard in the Italian Mezzogiorno

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Angrist, Joshua D.; Battistin, Erich; Vuri, Daniela
• 署名单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); National Bureau of Economic Research; University of London; Queen Mary University London; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; University of Rome Tor Vergata
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20160267
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 216-249
• 关键词: student-achievement; scholastic achievement; developing-countries; outcomes evidence; misclassification; schools; teacher; absence; norway; models

摘要

Instrumental variables (IV) estimates show strong class-size effects in Southern Italy. But Italy's Mezzogiorno is distinguished by manipulation of standardized test scores as well as by economic disadvantage. IV estimates suggest small classes increase manipulation. We argue that score manipulation is a consequence of teacher shirking. IV estimates of a causal model for achievement as a function of class size and score manipulation show that class-size effects on measured achievement are driven entirely by the relationship between class size and manipulation. These results illustrate how consequential score manipulation can arise even in assessment systems with few accountability concerns.