EDUCATION-LONG-RUN · Long-Run Effects of Education Interventions: Evidence from Randomized Trials

The vast majority of published research on the impact of school interventions has examined their effects on short-run outcomes, primarily test scores. While important, a possibly deeper question of interest to society is the impact of such interventions on long-run life outcomes. This is a critical question because the ultimate goal of education is to improve lifetime well-being. Recent research has begun to look at this issue but much work remains to be done, particularly with regard to the long-term effects of interventions explicitly targeting improvement in general quality and students’ educational attainment. This proposal examines the impact of seven different schooling interventions – teachers’ quality, school quality, remedial education, school choice, teacher incentive payments, students' conditional cash transfers and an experiment with an increase in the return to schooling – on long-run life outcomes, including educational attainment, employment, income, marriage and fertility, crime and welfare dependency. To address this important question I will exploit unique data from seven experimental programs and natural experiments implemented simultaneously at different schools in Israel. All programs were successful in achieving their short-term objectives, though the cost of the programs varied. This undertaking presents a unique context with unusual data and very compelling empirical settings. I will examine whether these programs also achieved a longer-term measure of success by improving students’ life outcomes. Another unique feature of the proposed study is that the interventions vary widely and touch on some emergent educational trends. The body of empirical evidence from this study will provide a more complete picture of the individual and social returns from these educational interventions, and will allow policymakers to make more informed decisions when deciding which educational programs lead to the most beneficial use of limited school resources.