Children's Patience and School-Track Choices Several Years Later: Linking Experimental and Field Data

36 Pages Posted: 11 Jun 2021

See all articles by Silvia Angerer

Silvia Angerer

UMIT TIROL - Private University for Health Sciences and Health Technology

Jana Bolvashenkova

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Daniela Glätzle-Rützle

University of Innsbruck - Department of Public Finance

Philipp Lergetporer

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute

Matthias Sutter

Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods

Date Written: 2021

Abstract

We present direct evidence on the link between children’s patience and educational-track choices years later. Combining an incentivized patience measure of 493 primary-school children with their high-school track choices taken at least three years later at the end of middle school, we find that patience significantly predicts choosing an academic track. This relationship remains robust after controlling for a rich set of covariates, such as family background, school-class fixed effects, risk preferences, and cognitive abilities, and is not driven by sample attrition. Accounting for middle-school GPA as a potential mediating factor suggests a direct link between patience and educational-track choice.

JEL Classification: C910, D900, I210, J200

Suggested Citation

Angerer, Silvia and Bolvashenkova, Jana and Glätzle-Rützle, Daniela and Lergetporer, Philipp and Sutter, Matthias, Children's Patience and School-Track Choices Several Years Later: Linking Experimental and Field Data (2021). CESifo Working Paper No. 9110, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3863813 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3863813

Silvia Angerer (Contact Author)

UMIT TIROL - Private University for Health Sciences and Health Technology ( email )

Eduard-Wallnöfer-Zentrum 1
Hall, Tirol 6060
Austria

Jana Bolvashenkova

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) ( email )

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Daniela Glätzle-Rützle

University of Innsbruck - Department of Public Finance ( email )

Innrain 52
Innsbruck, 6020
Austria

Philipp Lergetporer

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute ( email )

Dresden Branch
Einsteinstraße 3
Dresden, 01069
Germany

Matthias Sutter

Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods ( email )

Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 10
D-53113 Bonn, 53113
Germany

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