Centre for Research in Economics of Education

The labor market consequences of classroom ranks

In a new study Enzo Brox, Maddalena Davoli and Maurizio Strazzeri examine the impact of students’ classroom rank in math on educational, occupational, and labor-market outcomes. They find that, conditional on math skills, students with higher classroom ranks in math in compulsory school are more likely to pursue STEM-related occupations. In addition, they show that a higher classroom rank in math increases earnings and the willingness to invest in occupation-specific further education.

Competitive Peers: The Way to Higher Paying Jobs?

In a new study, Stefan Wolter, Claudio Schilter and Samuel Lüthi investigated the influence of the average competitiveness of peers in lower secondary school on career choice. They found that those who had more competitive peers at the time ended up in better-paid professions years later.

The virtues of going virtual

When young people have to choose from almost 200 different occupations, there is a great risk that they will limit and shorten their search radius, resulting in an inefficient match of skills, preferences, and professional requirements. To prevent such inefficiencies, career fairs are held in many countries, where young people can come into contact with the occupations and get a hands-on picture. In their new study, Daniel Goller, Chiara Graf, and Stefan Wolter show that a) career fairs significantly increase the search intensity for open apprenticeship positions, b) the new virtual fairs perform better than the traditional face-to-face fairs, and c) the virtual fairs, in contrast to the in-person fairs, increase the search radius for different occupations, while the latter, contrary to the intentions of the career fairs, seem to narrow it.

María Jesús San Segundo Award

At this year's annual meeting of the Economics of Education Association in Valencia, Thea Zöllner won the María Jesús San Segundo Award with her study "Are parents an obstacle to gender-atypical occupational choices?" (together with Stefan Wolter).

Are parents gender-neutral when advising their children on career choices?

In their recent study, Stefan Wolter and Thea Zöllner find that parents give their children gender-neutral advice, but only to daughters, not sons. Interestingly, adults with a university education have an equal preference for male occupations for daughters and sons, while people with a vocational education make gender-neutral decisions for daughters, but are all the more inclined towards male occupations when it comes to a son.

How scary is the risk of automation?

In a recent newspaper article (in German), the NZZ reported on the new study by Maria Cattaneo, Christian Gschwendt, and Stefan Wolter, who found that Swiss adults would be willing to give up up to 20% of their salary if they could work in a job where the risk of being replaced by automation is significantly lower.

Occupational Reputation and Career Choice

What influence does a positive reputation shock for a particular profession have on the career choices of young adolescents? In a new study, Daniel Goller and Stefan Wolter investigate how the demand for certain professions changes when a gold medal is won in this profession at the World Championships of Vocational Skills. The authors find a 7 percent increase in interest in the professions, 2.5 percent more contracts signed and a more stable apprenticeship relationship.

Generative Artificial Intelligence and Occupational Choice

This time it's different

In a new study, Daniel Goller, Christian Gschwendt, and Stefan Wolter find a strong and long-lasting decline in interest in apprenticeships after the introduction of the generative AI ChatGPT, which suggests a great uncertainty among the affected cohort.

Compared to previous emerging technologies, such as robotics, the authors found hardly any decline in interest in occupations with primarily manual work, but in particular among the occupations that previously felt safe from automation risks, the occupations with primarily cognitive tasks.

Is Being Competitive Always an Advantage?

Competitiveness is increasingly discussed as a personality trait that may be related to various labor market outcomes, such as career choice or compensation. In a recent study, Samuel Lüthi and Stefan Wolter find that not only does the propensity to be competitive vary by gender, but also that competitiveness is differentially associated with premature contract termination for men and women.

Swiss education landscape, growth in spending & teacher shortage

In a video interview, Stefan Wolter is a guest at the 'Institut für Schweizerische Wirtschaftspolitik'. Among other things, the conversation focuses on the dual education system, which is central to social mobility in Switzerland, the education system, which is unique in the world and allows everyone to receive a flexible and upwardly mobile education, and the shortage of teachers in Switzerland.

The Development of Vocational Education in Switzerland

As a guest on the podcast "Inside Berufsbildung", Stefan Wolter talks about the development of vocational education and training in Switzerland and findings from the Education Report 2023 (in German).

Recognition of Excellence in Teaching

For the Master Seminar "Economics of Education" offered by the Research Center for the Economics of Education in the fall semester 2022, Maurizio Strazzeri and Daniel Goller have been awarded recognition for excellence in teaching by the University of Bern.

Academic Success of Students with more Educated Peers

As more and more young adults enroll in higher education, a larger number will eventually drop out for different reasons. Daniel Goller, Andrea Diem, and Stefan Wolter investigated the impact of students who enrolled in a UAS after dropping out of university on the academic success of first-time UAS students. While there are negative effects of dropouts who re-enroll in the same subject at the UAS on the academic success of their new peers, there are positive effects of dropouts who change subjects.

Routine Job Dynamics in the Swiss Labor Market

Jobs with a high share of routine tasks – which digital technology is particularly good at performing – are on a continuing decline in Switzerland. However, this is not happening through widespread layoffs; instead, workers in low-paid jobs have an increasingly hard time "moving up" into such medium-paid routine jobs. Similarly, individuals with low or medium education have difficulty (re-)entering such positions after extended work absences (e.g., maternity breaks). Finally, active education and labor market policy might become increasingly important to prevent undesired economic, political, and societal consequences of digitalization.

Private Tutoring and Academic Achievement

Decisions about admission to selective schools are usually based on performance measures. To meet the required performance threshold, students may seek additional resources such as private tutoring. In their new study, Maria Zumbuehl, Stefanie Hof, and Stefan Wolter examine how the use of tutoring is related to the likelihood of transitioning to an academically challenging secondary school and the likelihood of successfully completing that school. They find that students who received tutoring before the transition are more likely to fail in secondary school than students who had the same skill level without tutoring.

Gender Differences in Vocational Interests and in Occupational Preferences

"Boys play with cars, girls play with dolls". It is interesting to see that a little later, the career choices of young women and men can be explained very well by the extent of interpersonal relationships or interactions with machines in an occupation. In the article published in the Journal of Economic Behaviour & Organization, Stefan Wolter together with Andreas Kuhn demonstrate this with innovative data sets.

The Double Dividend of Work-Related Continuous Education

In a new article, Stefan Wolter, together with Stefan Denzler and Jens Ruhose, examines the impact of job-related CET on employment prospects in Switzerland. They find that participation in work-related continuous education increases annual earnings and reduces the risk of unemployment even two years after training. The returns are highest for middle-aged men with formal vocational training who work in either a depressed or a booming labour market.

Willingness to Compete, Gender and Career Choices

Women and men differ in many ways, not least, as many years of research have shown, in their inclination to enter into competition. In the latest research paper published in the journal Experimental Economics, Stefan Wolter together with Thomas Buser and Noemi Peter, have analysed the consequences of this for educational decisions by comparing competitive women (men) with less competitive women (men) along the entire distribution of abilities.

Much ado about nothing?

In a recent working paper, Maurizio Strazzeri, Chantal Oggenfuss, and Stefan C. Wolter investigate the impact of a Swiss curriculum reform that introduced courses of a second foreign language in primary school on students' educational trajectories after compulsory school. The authors find that the reform does not affect the educational trajectories of the majority of the student population. However, the reform impedes low-track male students direct transition to upper secondary education. This effect is particularly pronounced for students who do not speak at home the school's language of instruction.

Does awareness of the risk of failure matter for educational choices?

A new paper published in the Economics of Education Review examines the effect of providing information about dropout risks on stated preferences for academic versus vocational education in Switzerland. In this work Stefan Wolter together with Maria Cattaneo find that the deterrent effect of a higher risk of dropping out is too small to achieve an efficient allocation of talents, if preferences for a particular type of education are very strong.

Social prestige of occupations

In their new article published in the Acta Politica, Aurélien Abrassart and Stefan C. Wolter analyse a survey of adults’ perception of the social prestige of occupations in Switzerland. They find respondents identifying with right-wing populist parties do not reject the dominant view of the prestige of occupations. Rather, adherence to radical political ideologies, whether at the far left or far right, correlates with a lower impact of the educational requirements of occupations on their perceived social prestige.

Reform idea: Subsequent tuition fees

In a newspaper article in the NZZ (24.12.2021), Prof. Stefan C. Wolter, together with Prof. Conny Wunsch from the University of Basel, proposes that all students who complete a tertiary education in Switzerland should (subsequently) pay more for the costs incurred. (article in German as pdf attached)

Business Cycles and Apprenticeships

A new study by Samuel Mühlemann and Stefan Wolter published in the Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Economics and Finance looks at the relationship between business cycles and the apprenticeships market in the interplay of demand, supply and other factors.

Too shocked to search

In a new research, published in the Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Daniel Goller and Prof. Stefan Wolter examine the effects of the Corona pandemic on the search behaviour of potential apprentices for apprenticeship positions. The first shutdown from March 2020 led to 40% fewer searches, while the response to the second shutdown from December 2020 was more resistant, with only around 20% fewer searches.

Election to the COVID-19 Science Task Force

Stefan Wolter was elected as a member of the COVID-19 Science Task Force.

Election as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the MEM-Passerelle 4.0 AG

Stefan Wolter was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the newly founded MEM-Passerelle 4.0 AG.

Ausschreibung Bildungsökonomischer Preis 2019/2020

Call for applications: Prize for the best PhD thesis in Economics in Education 2019/20

The Economics of Education Committee of the Verein of Socialpolitik awards its Scientific Prize for the fourth time. The prize will reward the best PhD thesis completed in the years 2019 and 2020. The deadline for submission is December 31, 2020.

Everyone to the university - does that make sense?

In the context of the symposium "Wenn Begabung und Bildungswege abweichen: Verabschieden wir uns von der Leistungsgerechtigkeit" of the Academy of Sciences and Literature, Prof. Dr. Stefan Wolter gave a lecture on "All to the university - does it make sense?

Efficiency in the Swiss education system

With the adoption of the Dispatch on Research and Innovation, BFI 2021-2024, the Federal Council also released the expert report "Effizienz im Schweizer Bildungssystem", which had been drawn up by the Research Centre for Economics of Education for the attention of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation.

Is the apprenticeship market resistant to economic cycles?

Is the apprenticeship market resistant to economic cycles? This question is a pressing one in view of the expected economic effects of the corona crisis. A recently published research paper by the Research Centre provides empirical answers to this question.

Elected as Chairman of the Committee of Economics of Education

Stefan Wolter has been elected new chairman of the Standing Field Committee of Economics of Education of the Verein für Socialpolitik and thus also member of the Executive Council of the German Economic Association.

This Association is the oldest association of economists in the German-speaking area and counts more than 1’200 professors and 2’000 young academics from more than 20 countries as its members. The association has 24 Standing Field Committees. The Field Committee of Economics of Education has existed since 1975 and counts more than 60 members.

Report about apprenticeship training in Italy is forthcoming

Prof. Dr. Stefan C. Wolter and Eva Joho investigated costs and benefits of apprenticeship training from a firm's and the apprentice's perspective. Their results are published in the report "Apprenticeship training in Italy – a cost-effective model for firms?".

Report about apprenticeship training in England is forthcoming

Prof. Dr. Stefan C. Wolter and Eva Joho investigated costs and benefits of apprenticeship training from a firm's and the apprentice's perspective. Their results are published in the report "Apprenticeship training in England – a cost-effective model for firms?".

Schmeller Price for Master Thesis

The economic society of the canton of Bern has awarded the Schmeller Price to Luca Moretti – a former staff member of the Centre for Resarch in Economics of Education – for his master thesis. His work is incorporated into the Leading House Working Paper No. 137 on differences of firm’s costs and benefits of apprenticeship training in Austria and Switzerland.

Keynote on STEM and gender

On the occasion of the 60th founding anniversary ceremony of the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW) at the University of Tübingen, Germany, Stefan Wolter held one of the two keynote lectures entitled:
"STEM and gender: or why is it so difficult to get girls into math-intensive careers?"

A roundtable with the King of the Belgians

In a round table, organised for a delegation headed by the King of the Belgians in Lucerne, Stefan Wolter informed about the Swiss vocational education system. King Philippe was accompanied by several ministers and the EC Commissioner for employment, social affairs, skills and labour mobility Marianne Thyssen.

Presentation at the University of Bath

Stefan Wolter was invited by the Economics Department to speak at the University of Bath about gender, competitiveness and career choices along the whole ability distribution.

The Best Paper Award of the 5th internationalen VET Congress

The paper "Public Attitudes Towards the Role of the State and the Private Provision of Training: Evidence from the Swiss Apprenticeship System“, written by Stefan Wolter, Andreas Kuhn and Jürg Schweri, has received the Best Paper Award of the 5th internationalen VET Congress of the SFIVET.

Elected as Chairman of the Committee of Economics of Education

Stefan Wolter has been elected new chairman of the Standing Field Committee of Economics of Education of the Verein für Socialpolitik and thus also member of the Executive Council of the German Economic Association.

This Association is the oldest association of economists in the German-speaking area and counts more than 1’200 professors and 2’000 young academics from more than 20 countries as its members. The association has 24 Standing Field Committees. The Field Committee of Economics of Education has existed since 1975 and counts more than 60 members.

Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the AEA in Chicago

The Paper: «Gender, competitiveness and study choices in high school - evidence from Switzerland», written by Prof. Stefan Wolter (University of Berne) and Prof. Thomas Buser (University of Amsterdam), was presented by Prof. Noémi Peter (University of Groningen) at the Annual Conference of the American Economic Association in Chicago and selected for the Papers and Proceedings of the American Economic Review. This research paper examines the specialization choices of Bernese Baccalaureate school students.

Interim solutions

In a new research paper Stefan Wolter and Katahrina Jaik (University of Zurich) show that interim solutions after compulsory education are not only a question of grades. Psychological factors are just as helpful or obstructive for the smooth transition from compulsory to secondary education.

15 years of research on costs and benefits of VET

Stefan Wolter held a keynote on research results from 15 years of research on costs and benefits of vocational education and training at the first Conference of the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) at the London School of Economics.