Class Size and Class Heterogeneity

53 Pages Posted: 15 Oct 2009

See all articles by Giacomo De Giorgi

Giacomo De Giorgi

University College London; NBER; Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Michele Pellizzari

University of Geneva - GSEM; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

William A Woolston

Stanford University - Department of Economics

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Abstract

We study how class size and composition affect the academic and labor market performances of college students, two crucial policy questions given the secular increase in college enrollment. We rely on the random assignment of students to teaching classes. Our results suggest that a one standard deviation increase in the class-size would result in a 0.1 standard deviation deterioration of the average grade. Further, the effect is heterogenous as female and higher income students seem almost immune to the size of the class. Also, the effects on performance of class composition in terms of gender and ability appears to be inverse U-shaped. Finally, a reduction of 20 students (one standard deviation) in one's class size has a positive effect on monthly wages of about 80 Euros (115 USD) or 6% over the average.

Keywords: class size, heterogeneity, experimental evidence, academic performance, wages

JEL Classification: A22, I23, J30

Suggested Citation

De Giorgi, Giacomo and Pellizzari, Michele and Woolston, William A, Class Size and Class Heterogeneity. IZA Discussion Paper No. 4443, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1489266 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1489266

Giacomo De Giorgi (Contact Author)

University College London ( email )

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London
United Kingdom

NBER ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
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Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of New York ( email )

33 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10045
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Michele Pellizzari

University of Geneva - GSEM ( email )

102 Bd Carl-Vogt
Genève, CH - 1205
Switzerland

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

William A Woolston

Stanford University - Department of Economics ( email )

Landau Economics Building
579 Serra Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6072
United States

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