TY - JOUR
T1 - Subject variety and incentives to learn
T2 - Evidence from public high school admission policies in Japan
AU - Akabayashi, Hideo
AU - Naoi, Michio
N1 - Funding Information:
Our research is financially supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP20243020 and JP16H06323 . Ryoichi Kuroha generously provided with the official documentations of the past prefectural high school entrance exam systems. We also thank to participants at numerous seminars, Takanori Adachi, David Figlio, Hidehiko Ichimura, Soichi Ohta, Shinpei Sano, and Hiroki Yasuda for their valuable comments. All remaining errors are ours.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2019/12
Y1 - 2019/12
N2 - This paper provides evidence on whether mandating wider subject variety on high school entrance exams affects long-term educational achievement using Japanese historical experiences. In Japan, where high school education is non-compulsory, prefectural boards of education have retained the freedom to set admission criteria for public high schools within their prefecture, including the number of subjects tested on entrance exams. Using prefectural-level panel data, we estimate the effect of the number and choice of subjects tested at the time of high school entrance on the probability of college attendance three years later. We find that the variety of subjects tested has a positive effect on the later college enrollment. Our findings are broadly consistent with the incentive theory of testing (Lazear, 2006) and the empirical results from other countries.
AB - This paper provides evidence on whether mandating wider subject variety on high school entrance exams affects long-term educational achievement using Japanese historical experiences. In Japan, where high school education is non-compulsory, prefectural boards of education have retained the freedom to set admission criteria for public high schools within their prefecture, including the number of subjects tested on entrance exams. Using prefectural-level panel data, we estimate the effect of the number and choice of subjects tested at the time of high school entrance on the probability of college attendance three years later. We find that the variety of subjects tested has a positive effect on the later college enrollment. Our findings are broadly consistent with the incentive theory of testing (Lazear, 2006) and the empirical results from other countries.
KW - College enrollment
KW - Curriculum
KW - Education policy
KW - High school exam
KW - Human Capital
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U2 - 10.1016/j.japwor.2019.100981
DO - 10.1016/j.japwor.2019.100981
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85073166751
SN - 0922-1425
VL - 52
JO - Japan and the World Economy
JF - Japan and the World Economy
M1 - 100981
ER -
