A Second Chance at Education for Early School Leavers

37 Pages Posted: 23 Aug 2012

See all articles by Cain Polidano

Cain Polidano

University of Melbourne - Faculty of Business and Economics, Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research

Domenico Tabasso

IZA (Institute for the Study of Labour); University of Essex - Department of Economics; Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti

Yi-Ping Tseng

University of Melbourne - Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: August 2012

Abstract

Despite efforts to engage youth in education, there have been only modest improvements in the rates of school completion across OECD countries since the mid-1990s. These modest improvements underline the importance of programs that encourage early school leavers to return to post-school education. The objective of this paper is to better understand the factors that affect the chances of re-engaging early school leavers in education, with a particular focus on the importance of time out from school (duration dependence) and school-related factors. Using data from three cohorts of the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth and duration models that control for unobserved heterogeneity, our results suggest that programs that encourage an early return to study and programs that develop post-school career plans may be more effective than programs that concentrate on improving numeracy and literacy scores.

Keywords: educational economics, demand for schooling, human capital

JEL Classification: I20, J01

Suggested Citation

Polidano, Cain and Tabasso, Domenico and Tabasso, Domenico and Tseng, Yi-Ping, A Second Chance at Education for Early School Leavers (August 2012). Melbourne Institute Working Paper No. 14, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2135284 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2135284

Cain Polidano (Contact Author)

University of Melbourne - Faculty of Business and Economics, Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research ( email )

Level 5, FBE Building, 111 Barry Street
Parkville, Victoria 3010
Australia

Domenico Tabasso

IZA (Institute for the Study of Labour) ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

University of Essex - Department of Economics ( email )

Wivenhoe Park
Colchester CO4 3SQ
United Kingdom

Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti ( email )

Via Roentgen 1,
Room 5.C1-11
Milan, Milano 20136
Italy

Yi-Ping Tseng

University of Melbourne - Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research ( email )

Level 5, FBE Building, 111 Barry Street
Parkville, Victoria 3010
Australia

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