AØKK08449U Seminar: Economics of Children and Education

Volume 2026/2027
Education

MSc programme in Economics

The seminar is primarily for students at the MSc of Economics.

Content

The seminar offers students the opportunity to deepen their knowledge on a topic of their choice within the field of children and education economics and to conduct their own empirical analysis. The course focuses on econometric models for analysing children’s trajectories. Especially how they are shaped by family circumstances and education from a policy based and institutional point of view.

 

Students will conduct an independent empirical project. Possible approaches include replicating and extending the empirical analysis of a published article using the original dataset, conducting a new empirical analysis using publicly available data or data obtained through the student’s own work, or replicating a published study using an alternative dataset.

 

Access to Danish administrative data is an advantage, especially for students interested in welfare-related topics. However, this is not a requirement. During the introductory meeting, we will discuss a range of datasets suitable for empirical analysis. In addition, many leading economic journals provide public access to datasets used in published research. Examples include The American Economic Review, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Journal of Applied Econometrics, and Journal of Political Economy, all of which maintain online data archives that students are encouraged to explore.

 

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Child labour
  • Teacher effects
  • Class-level determinants eg. classroom size, instruction time or usage of different platforms
  • Peer effects
  • Family investments
  • Life-cycle effects of education
  • Test design
  • Impact of early childhood
  • Social Mobility
  • School choice and sorting 
  • Genetics
  • Scholarships
  • Lunch schemes
  • Extra curricula activities
  • Conditional transfer schemes
  • STEM programs
  • Gender inequality sexual harassment
  • Signaling effects of grades
Learning Outcome

After completing the seminar the student is expected to be able to fulfill the learning outcome specified in the  Master curriculum and to be able to:

 

Knowledge:

  • Understand and explain key theories within education economics and economic aspects of children and family.
  • Explain the main findings and gaps in the literature related to the chosen topic/research question.
  • Explain empirical methods that are relevant for the chosen topic.
  • Understand the implications and limitations of their chosen identification strategy.

 

Skills:

  • Formulate a research question and motivate it in relation to existing literature and real-world policy.
  • Critically evaluate and discuss the chosen theory, methods, and findings.
  • Present the project to peers and incorporate relevant feedback.
  • Provide constructive feedback to peers.

 

Competencies:

 

  • Plan a research process and set interim goals.
  • Carry out a research project.
  • Assess and discuss diverse projects within the field of economics of children and education.

General:

  • Woessmann (2016). Handbook of the Economics of Education
  • Lovenheim, M. and S. Turner (2018). Economics of Education. Macmillan Learning. 
  • Kilpi-Jakonen, Elina, Jo Blanden, Jani Erola, and Lindsey Macmillan, eds. 2024. Research Handbook on Intergenerational Inequality
  • Becker, G. S. and N. Tomes (1986).　Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families. Journal of Labor Economics 4 (3), 1-47.
  • Becker, G. S. (1991)　Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education. National Bureau of Economic Research, distributed by Columbia University Press. Chapter 4 and its Appendix.
  • Belley, P. and L. J. Lochner (2007).　The Changing Role of Family Income and Ability in Determining Educational Achievement.　Journal of Human Capital 1 (1), 37-89.
  • Duflo, E., & Banerjee, A. (2011). Poor economics (Vol. 619). New York: PublicAffairs.
  • Woessmann, Ludger. (2016). The Importance of School Systems: Evidence from International Differences in Student Achievement." Journal of Economic Perspectives 30 (3): 3–32.
  • For the empirical analysis:
  • Angrist, J. and J. Pischke (2009): Mostly harmless econometrics. Princeton University.
  • Cameron, C. and P. Trivedi (2005): Microeconometrics. Methods and applications. Cambridge University Press.
  • Wooldridge, J. (2002): Econometric analysis of cross section and panel data. MIT Press.

 

Relevant studies:

  • Angrist, J. D., & Lavy, V. (1999). Using Maimonides’ Rule to Estimate the Effect of Class Size on Scholastic Achievement. The Quarterly Journal of Economics
  • Duflo, Esther. (2001). Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment." American Economic Review 91 (4): 795–813.
  • Schultz, T. P. (2004). School subsidies for the poor: evaluating the Mexican Progresa poverty program. Journal of development Economics, 74(1), 199-250.
  • Hanushek, E. A. and L. Woessmann (2010).　Education and Economic Growth.　In D. J. Brewer and P. J. McEwan (Eds.), Economics of Education, Volume 2, pp. 60-67. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  • Landaud et al. (2024). “The Value of a High School GPA”. Review of Economics and Statistics.
  • Ottosen t al. (2022) Børn og unge i Danmark – Velfærd og trivsel 2022.
  • Andersen et al. (2020) Hvad vi ved om børn og deres opvækstvilkår. Rockwool Fondens Forskningsenhed.
  • Lochner, L. J. and E. Moretti (2004). The Effect of Education on Crime: Evidence from Prison Inmates, Arrests, and Self-Reports. The American Economic Review 94 (1), 155-189.
  • Diamond et Persson (2016). The Long-Term Consequences of Teacher Discretion in Grading of High-Stakes Tests. Working Paper. National Bureau of Economic Research
  • Landersø, R. K., Nielsen, H. S., & Simonsen, M. (2020). Effects of school starting age on the family. Journal of Human Resources, 55(4), 1258-1286.

Hvidman et Sievertsen (2019). “High-Stakes Grades and Student Behavior”.  Journal of Human Resources

Students are expected to have a solid knowledge of econometrics, equivalent to Econometrics l and Econometrics ll.

Students will benefit from previous or current participation in Applied Econometric Policy Evaluation and Economics of Education.

It may also be relevant to have participated in Advanced Microeconometrics.
Students receive individual guidance from the instructor.
Students prepare a draft assignment, which they present to the teacher and the other students. The students take turns acting as opponents during each other’s presentations. The feedback should especially focus on the written presentation in the draft assignment, with particular emphasis on the introduction.
Exact dates will be available in the seminar’s course room no later than 14 days before the start of the semester

• Kick-off meeting: Week 6 / 36. See exact date in Absalon.

• Additional meetings/introductory teaching/guidance: Optional. See Absalon.

• Deadline for submission of commitment paper/project description:
No later than February 28 / September 30.

• Deadline for uploading seminar paper draft in Absalon: No later than one week before the presentations. See exact date in Absalon.

• Presentations: In the period November 20 – December 11 for the autumn semester and May 1 – 23 for the spring semester.
See exact dates in Absalon.

• Common submission date for all seminars: December 20 at 10:00 for the autumn semester and June 1 at 10:00 for the spring semester.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Project work
  • 186
  • Seminar
  • 20
  • Total
  • 206
Written
Oral
Individual
Collective
Peer feedback (Students give each other feedback)
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Home assignment
Type of assessment details
Individual or in groups of up to 3.
A seminar paper of 15 standard pages for one person, 22.5 standard pages for 2 and 30 standard pages for 3 students.
See further exam information in the Masters Programme Curriculum.
Examination prerequisites

Attendance in all seminar activities as stated in the Master curriculum.

Reexam: Hand in and have approved a synopsis.

Aid
All aids allowed

Use of AI tools is permitted. You must explain how you have used the tools. When text is solely or mainly generated by an AI tool, the tool used must be quoted as a source.

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Exam period

The seminar paper must be uploaded in Digital Exam.

Common submission date for all seminars: December 20 at 10:00 for the autumn semester and June 1 at 10:00 for the spring semester.

For enrolled students more information about examination, rules, aids etc. is available at the intranet for  Master (UK) and  Master (DK ).

Re-exam

Individual seminar paper of 15 standard pages. See further exam information in the Masters Programme Curriculum.

Deadline and more information is available at  MSc in Economics - KUnet

More information about reexam etc is available at  Master(UK) and  Master(DK).

Criteria for exam assesment

Students are assessed on the extent to which they master the learning outcome for the seminar and can make use of the knowledge, skills and competencies listed in the learning outcomes in the  Curriculum of the Master programme.