2011/12

SESSG46 Advanced Quantitative Methods

Project Progress Check

Project assignment: Progress check There will be a check on your progress with the project after reading week. Please fill in the following one-page brief questionnaire, explaining your progress in the project, and submit it by Monday, 27 February 2012 through the Moodle. Those of you with concerns about the assignment should see one of the course tutors during their office hours in week 7. These preliminary submissions will be kept and referred to as a week 7 progress record. 1. Name Aleksandra Irnazarow _________________________________________________ 2. What empirical question are you going to investigate? The role of cognitive skills (measured by standarised assesement of mathematics, science and reading) on economic growth.

3. Did you already have find theoretical literature related to your question of interest? If so, describe briefly. A growing body of economic literature demonstrates that the quality of human capital (cognitive skills) is crucial to economic development (Hanushek & Kimko 2000, Barro 2001, Jamison et al. 2007, Hanushek & Woessmann 2008, 2009). Cognitive skills were found to explain a large part of the variance in economic development (Becker & Woessmann 2009). In fact, cognitive skills measured by internationally comparable exams results explain more variance in economic development than school attainment, frequently rendering school attainment insignificant in the regression (Hanushek & Kimko 2000, Barro 2001). Barro, R. (2001), Human Capital and Growth, American Economic Review 91(2), 1217. Becker, S. &Woessmann, L. (2009), WasWeberWrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History, Quarterly Journal of Economics 124(2). Hanushek, E. A. & Woessmann, L. (2009), Do better schools lead to more growth? cognitive skills, economic outcomes, and causation, NBER Working Papers 14633, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. Hanushek, E. & Woessmann, L. (2008), The Role of Cognitive Skills in Economic Development, Journal of Economic Literature 46(3), 607668. Hanushek, E. & Kimko, D. (2000), Schooling, Labor-Force Quality, and the Growth of Nations,American Economic Review 90(5), 11841208. Jamison, E., Jamison, D. & Hanushek, E. (2007), The effects of education quality on income growth and mortality decline, Economics of Education Review 26(6), 771788.

4. Did you already have find data for your project? If so: what is the source of it? Please give a brief description of the dataset (no. of obs., variables, period etc., if appropriate).

2011/12

SESSG46 Advanced Quantitative Methods

Project Progress Check

Cognitive skills measure: PISA test scores 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009 - scores in maths and science. TIMMS test scores 2003, 2006, 2008 - scores in maths and science. PISA and TIMMS cover different number of countries, together number of observations will cover 50 countries. Cognitive skills variable will be measured by average in PISA and TIMMS scores. Economic growth measures GDP per capita in 2000, 2003, 2009 for 50 countries. (Possibly GDP growth rates between 1960-2009). The data will include other variables that affect economic growth - openess of the economy, school attainmnet etc

5. Did you already organize your data in the STATA format? Do you have problems with this and what kind of them? Not yet.

6. What kind of problems related to the Project do you foreseen and how you are going to and what kind of them? I would like to do a cross-section - cognitive test scores in 50 countries in 2003 against GDP per capita in 2003, however I only have 50 observations. As 50 observations might be not enough for a cross section I am thinking of doing a time series regression measuring whether tests scores affected growth rates in GDP 1960-2009 (or different period 1980-2009). I am not sure how to do that if my cognitive test scores data goes back no further than 2000 - the earliest available data which covers all 50 countries).