Dinand Webbink

Does education reduce the probability of being overweight

The prevalence of overweight and obesity is growing rapidly in many countries. Education policies might be important for reducing this increase. This paper analyses the causal effect of education on the probability of being overweight by using longitudinal data of Australian identical twins. The data include self-reported and clinical measures of body size. Our cross-sectional estimates confirm the well-known negative association between education and the probability of being overweight. For men we find that education also reduces the probability of being overweight within pairs of identical twins. The estimated effect of education on overweight status increases with age. Remarkably, for women we find no negative effect of education on body size when fixed family effects are taken into account. Identical twin sisters who differ in educational attainment do not systematically differ in body size. Peer effects within pairs of identical twin sisters might play a role.

Can Students Predict Starting Salaries? Yes!.

Abstract We use Dutch panel data in which students have been asked to state their expected starting salary and confront these with realisations four years later. Both level and structure of expectations and realisations are remarkably close: we barely find systematic under- or overestimation effects.

ENROLMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE NETHERLANDS

SummaryIn this paper we investigate the determinants of higher education enrolment in The Netherlands and estimate three different economic models referring to investment motives, consumption motives, and a combination of these two. By estimating these models for different years (1982 and 1991) we identify changes over time. The importance of financial variables appears to be vanishing. Moreover, we find that enrolment is no longer related to ability variables. We offer explanations for these findings. Finally, we employ the results to simulate some policy measures.

Does Studying Abroad Induce a Brain Drain

This paper investigates whether studying abroad increases the propensity to live abroad later on. We use an instrumental variable approach based on cut-offs in the ranking of Dutch higher education graduates who applied for a scholarship programme for outstanding students. Applicants ranked above the cut-off received a scholarship to study abroad. Applicants ranked below the cut-off were denied a scholarship. Assignment of a scholarship increases the probability to study abroad and the number of months spent studying abroad. Studying abroad and the number of months spent studying abroad increase the probability of currently living abroad.

Do Inspections Improve Primary School Performance

This article investigates the effect of Dutch primary school inspections on test scores. These inspections are assessments of the educational quality of schools. The authors use two approaches to estimate the effect of the inspections. The first approach, based on a standard fixed effects model, indicates that inspections lead to slightly better school performance: Test scores increase by 2% to 3% of a standard deviation. However, the fixed effects model might be sensitive to selection bias. The second approach exploits a sample of randomly selected schools originally drawn for the purpose of compiling the annual report of the state of Dutch education. Based on this approach, the authors find that inspections do no harm but seem to have little or no effect on student performance.

Does teenage childbearing increase smoking, drinking and body size?

This paper analyses the causal effect of teenage childbearing on smoking, drinking and body size using a sample of Australian twins and their relatives. Fixed effects estimates on samples of siblings, all twin pairs and identical twin pairs show that teenage mothers smoke more during their lives. Teen mothers tend to have a higher probability of being overweight, especially if they are older than 40 years. Their spouses are more likely to smoke and drink more. The quality of the spouse seems to be an important mechanism through which teenage childbearing affects subsequent maternal health.

The Effect of Childhood Conduct Disorder on Human Capital

This paper estimates the longer-term effects of childhood conduct disorder on human capital accumulation and violent and criminal behavior later in life using data of Australian twins. We measure conduct disorder with a rich set of indicators based on diagnostic criteria from psychiatry. Using ordinary least squares and twin fixed effects estimation approaches, we find that early-age (pre-18) conduct disorder problems significantly affect both human capital accumulation and violent and criminal behavior over the life course. In addition, we find that conduct disorder is more deleterious if these behaviors occur earlier in life.

Is there a hidden technical potential

This paper analyzes the determinants of choosing a technical study at university level and of staying in it. We find that – in The Netherlands – there is little correlation between the probability of a student choosing a technical study and the probability of completing it. This implies that a substantial number of technically talented people choose non-technical studies. Especially female students and students from high income families are unlikely to attent a technical study but these students are relatively successful in such studies. A large part of these technically talented students are attracted to medical studies and law schools, where they are no more likely to persist than other medical and law students. This finding is predicted by the tournament model in which rewards are based on relative performance instead of absolute performance.

Identification of twin pairs from large population-based samples

The basis of most twin studies is the ascertainment of twins, often through twin registries, and determination of zygosity. The current rate of twin births in many industrialized countries implies that in the near future around 3% or more of individuals will be a twin. Hence, there are and will be a lot of twins around and many of those will not participate in twin studies. However, if large population-based samples are available that include appropriate identifiers, then twins can be detected and twin studies performed, even in the absence of zygosity information. We quantified the number of twin pairs that could be detected from a longitudinal survey in the Netherlands, which aims to answer questions about educational strategies and performance in primary education in the Netherlands. We detected 2865 twin pairs if we used a coded name identifier, date of birth, school, grade and year of survey, which is 2.01% of 284,945 pupils in five cohorts. Relaxing our selection criteria increased the number of apparent twin pairs identified, most of which are false positives due to chance matching of identification criteria. We show that the intraclass correlation on measured phenotypes can be used as a quality control measure for twin identification, and quantify the proportion of false negatives (true twin pairs not identified) due to missing data and data coding errors. We compared our estimated rate of twins in the sample to census data and estimate that with our most stringent selection criteria we detect more than 80% of all twin pairs in the sample. We conclude that the identification of twin pairs from large population-based samples is feasible, rapid and accurate if the appropriate identifiers are available, and that twin pairs from such sources are a valuable resource for studies to answer scientific question about twins versus nontwins and about genetic and environmental factors of twin resemblance.

Why Did the Netherlands Develop so Early? The Legacy of the Brethren of the Common Life

This research establishes a link between the Brethren of the Common Life (BCL), a religious community founded by Geert Groote in Deventer in the late fourteenth century, and the early economic development of the Netherlands. The BCL stimulated human capital accumulation. The historical analyses show that the BCL contributed to the high rates of literacy, to the high level of book production and to city growth in the Netherlands. These findings are supported by a set of OLS regressions and further corroborated by 2SLS estimates that use distance from Deventer as an instrument for the presence of the BCL.