Student Effort and Parent Attitude on Education Attainment: Evidence from Multi-year Survey in Gansu, China
by Ridge Zhong-yuan Ren
Abstract
This paper explores whether student effort and parent attitudes have varying effects at different stages of a student’s life in terms of educational attainment and job outcomes. With survey data in Gansu, China, a largely rural province in Northwest China that lags behind the rest of China in education, this paper employs a multivariate regression model. This method allows me to measure the achievement or outcome of the child between each successive wave of surveys and estimate which factors held the strongest effect on the next wave. Student achievement in early waves is measured by the student’s score on assessments in math and Chinese, and the later outcome is measured by the student’s income and the highest level of education achieved. This paper finds that effort in Math and math achievement have a positive association with better education attainment and career outcomes later in life. In addition, I find that parental education levels also have a positive association with child outcomes.
Professor Pengpeng Xiao, Faculty Advisor
Professor Kent P. Kimbrough, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: I25, I26
Financial Inclusion and Women’s Economic Empowerment in India
by Nehal Jain
Abstract
On August 14th, 2014 India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented the largest ever financial inclusion scheme to date known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). The program aimed to bank all of India’s unbanked population. Prior to the program, India had one of the highest rates of unbanked citizens. The program also included measures that prioritized women’s access to these financial institutions given the gender gap in financial inclusivity. This paper aims both to understand the effectiveness of PMJDY on granting women equal access as men to financial institutions and whether financial inclusion results in increased economic empowerment, I find that PMJDY was successful in increasing access to bank accounts and separately, that access to bank accounts economically empowers women.
Professor Pengpeng Xiao, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: J1; G28; I31
