Data Watch: Research Data in the Economics of Education

Abstract

Economists have developed a wide variety of policy-relevant, empirical research projects that address the role of education in promoting individual and social welfare. Recent examples include studies on the impact of school spending on educational outputs, the differences between public and private schools, the effects of competition among schools, the determinants of teacher quality, the impact of unions on schools and the consequences of education finance reform. One reason for the proliferation of such empirical studies has been the emergence of high-quality, micro-level data on education. In this paper, we discuss three broad types of data sets: data on educational institutions, data on educational outcomes at the individual level, and data sets from school reforms and experiments. In each section, we summarize some of the leading surveys, discuss the general availability of the data, and identify some, but certainly not all, of the research that has utilized these data. This review is by no means exhaustive. We have restricted our attention to analyses of data sets describing primary and secondary education. Moreover, we emphasize data sets that are excellent sources of information but are less wellknown and utilized by economists. In particular, two obvious omissions from this review are the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Both are broad-based studies that track people over periods of time, gathering information both on educational attainment and on many other issues as well.