Schooling and Self-Control

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Year: 2025
Volume: 237
Issue: C

Authors (4)

Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. (not in RePEc) Dahmann, Sarah C. (University of Melbourne) Kamhöfer, Daniel A. (not in RePEc) Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.505 = (α=2.02 / 4 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

While there is an established positive relationship between self-control and education, the direction of causality remains a matter of debate. We make a contribution to resolving this issue by exploiting a series of Australian and German educational reforms that increased minimum education requirements as a source of exogenous variation in education levels. We find no evidence that an additional year of schooling increased the self-control of those people affected by the reforms, though our limited estimation power makes our estimates somewhat imprecise. Thus, while enhancing self-control through school-based interventions may be feasible, simply increasing the time early school leavers spend in formal education does not seem to meaningfully increase their self-control.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jeborg:v:237:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125002665
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-25