Modelling the effect of pupil mobility on school differences in educational achievement

Summary.  The recently introduced national pupil database in England allows the tracking of every child through the compulsory phases of the state education system. The data from key stage 2 for three local education authorities are studied, following cohorts of pupils through their schooling. The mobility of pupils among schools is studied in detail by using multiple-membership multilevel models that include prior achievement and other predictors and the results are compared with traditional 'value-added' approaches that ignore pupil mobility. The analysis also includes a cross-classification of junior and infant schools attended. The results suggest that some existing conclusions about schooling effects may need to be revised.     

Pathways between education and health: a causal modelling approach

Summary.  The association of poor education and poor health has been consistently observed in many studies and in various countries. Thus far, studies examining the mechanisms underlying this association have looked at only a limited set of potential pathways. This study simultaneously examines six distinctive pathways, which have been hypothesized to link education and health and found support from previous studies. A causal analysis of education and health was performed using structural equation models. Data were used from six phases of the National Child Development Study, which is based on following up an initial sample of 17416 children who were born in 1958. The association between education and health appears to be explained by a combination of mechanisms: adolescent health and adult health behaviours for men and women, adult social class among men and parental social class among women. We conclude that improvements in population educational attainment may not automatically lead to improvements in population health, and that health policies for improving health and reducing health inequalities need to target specific causal pathways.     

The transition from university to work: a multilevel approach to the analysis of the time to obtain the first job

The aim of the paper is to characterize the factors that determine the transition from university to work as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of universities and course programmes with respect to the labour market outcomes of their graduates. The study is focused on the analysis of the time to obtain the first job, taking into account the graduates' characteristics and the effects pertaining to course programmes and universities. For this a three-level discrete time survival model is used, where the logit of the hazard—conditionally on the random effects at course programme and university level—is a linear function of the covariates. The analysis is accomplished by using a large data set from a survey on job opportunities for the 1992 Italian graduates.     

Structural inference of the parameters of the heteroscedastic simultaneous equation model

The structural approach of inference for the parameters of a simultaneous equation model with heteroscedastic error variance is investigated in this paper. The joint and the marginal structural distributions for the coefficients of the exogenous variables and the scale parameters of the error variables, and the marginal likelihood function of the coefficients of the endogenous variables have been derived. The estimates are directly obtainable from the structural distribution and the marginal likelihood function of the parameters. The marginal distribution of a subset of coefficients of exogenous variables provides the basis for making inference for a particular subset of parameter of interest.     

A multilevel cross-classified modelling approach to peer review of grant proposals: the effects of assessor and researcher attributes on assessor ratings

Summary. The peer review of grant proposals is very important to academics from all disciplines. Although there is limited research on the reliability of assessments for grant proposals, previously reported single-rater reliabilities have been disappointingly low (between 0.17 and 0.37). We found that the single-rater reliability of the overall assessor rating for Australian Research Council grants was 0.21 for social science and humanities (2870 ratings, 1928 assessors and 687 proposals) and 0.19 for science (7153 ratings, 4295 assessors and 1644 proposals). We used a multilevel, cross-classification approach (level 1, assessor and proposal cross-classification; level 2, field of study), taking into account that 34% of the assessors evaluated more than one proposal. Researcher-nominated assessors (those chosen by the authors of the research proposal) gave higher ratings than panel-nominated assessors chosen by the Australian Research Council, and proposals from more prestigious universities received higher ratings. In the social sciences and humanities, the status of Australian universities had significantly more effect on Australian assessors than on overseas assessors. In science, ratings were higher when assessors rated fewer proposals and apparently had a more limited frame of reference for making such ratings and when researchers were professors rather than non-professors. Particularly, the methodology of this large scale study is applicable to other forms of peer review (publications, job interviews, awarding of prizes and election to prestigious societies) where peer review is employed as a selection process.     

The complexity of school and neighbourhood effects and movements of pupils on school differences in models of educational achievement

Summary.  Traditional studies of school differences in educational achievement use multilevel modelling techniques to take into account the nesting of pupils within schools. However, educational data are known to have more complex non-hierarchical structures. The potential importance of such structures is apparent when considering the effect of pupil mobility during secondary schooling on educational achievement. Movements of pupils between schools suggest that we should model pupils as belonging to the series of schools that are attended and not just their final school. Since these school moves are strongly linked to residential moves, it is important to explore additionally whether achievement is also affected by the history of neighbourhoods that are lived in. Using the national pupil database, this paper combines multiple membership and cross-classified multilevel models to explore simultaneously the relationships between secondary school, primary school, neighbourhood and educational achievement. The results show a negative relationship between pupil mobility and achievement, the strength of which depends greatly on the nature and timing of these moves. Accounting for pupil mobility also reveals that schools and neighbourhoods are more important than shown by previous analysis. A strong primary school effect appears to last long after a child has left that phase of schooling. The additional effect of neighbourhoods, in contrast, is small. Crucially, the rank order of school effects across all types of pupil is sensitive to whether we account for the complexity of the multilevel data structure.     

Time series modelling of childhood diseases: a dynamical systems approach

A key issue in the dynamical modelling of epidemics is the synthesis of complex mathematical models and data by means of time series analysis. We report such an approach, focusing on the particularly well-documented case of measles. We propose the use of a discrete time epidemic model comprising the infected and susceptible class as state variables. The model uses a discrete time version of the susceptible–exposed–infected–recovered type epidemic models, which can be fitted to observed disease incidence time series. We describe a method for reconstructing the dynamics of the susceptible class, which is an unobserved state variable of the dynamical system. The model provides a remarkable fit to the data on case reports of measles in England and Wales from 1944 to 1964. Morever, its systematic part explains the well-documented predominant biennial cyclic pattern. We study the dynamic behaviour of the time series model and show that episodes of annual cyclicity, which have not previously been explained quantitatively, arise as a response to a quicker replenishment of the susceptible class during the baby boom, around 1947.     

Estimation of long-run inefficiency levels: a dynamic frontier approach

Cornwell, Schmidt, and Sickles (1990) and Kumbhakar (1990), among others, developed stochasticfrontier production models which allow firm specific inefficiency levels to change over time. These studies assumed arbitrary restrictions on the short-run dynamics of efficiency levels which have little theoretical justification. Further, the models are inappropriate for estimation of long-run efficiencies. We consider estimation of an alternative frontier model in which firmspecific technical inefficiency levels are autoregressive. This model is particularly useful to examine a potential dynamic link between technical innovations and production inefficiency levels. We apply our methodology to a panel of US airlines.     

Estimation of long-run inefficiency levels: a dynamic frontier approach

Cornwell, Schmidt, and Sickles (1990) and Kumbhakar (1990), among others, developed stochasticfrontier production models which allow firm specific inefficiency levels to change over time. These studies assumed arbitrary restrictions on the short-run dynamics of efficiency levels which have little theoretical justification. Further, the models are inappropriate for estimation of long-run efficiencies. We consider estimation of an alternative frontier model in which firmspecific technical inefficiency levels are autoregressive. This model is particularly useful to examine a potential dynamic link between technical innovations and production inefficiency levels. We apply our methodology to a panel of US airlines.     

现收现付制、降低缴费率与经济增长——基于中国省际面板数据的经验研究

利用中国2001-2011年的省际面板数据资料,通过联立方程模型研究中国现行养老保险制度降低缴费率的经济增长效应,研究发现,中国实际上仍为现收现付模式的城镇社会养老保险制度,缴费率变化对个人储蓄率产生显著为负的影响,对居民对子女的教育投资比重的影响为正,但不显著,而个人储蓄率和居民对子女的教育投资比重对经济增长的影响都显著为正。当前养老保险制度通过降低缴费率对经济增长的净效应为负,降低缴费率有利于经济增长。     

基于贝叶斯面板模型的扩展C-D生产函数估计及实证

利用2008—2011年的省际面板数据并充分收集和整理先验信息,运用贝叶斯面板模型分析和研究了扩展的C-D生产函数,有效地处理了短期时序造成的小样本问题以及误差项之间的相关性问题,实现参数的适时修正和更新。研究发现:目前中国物质资本份额的后验均值为55%,明显低于中国学者估计的60%;人力资本所占份额仅为5%~6%,其对经济增长的拉动作用没有得到充分的发挥,中国应增大人力资本投入;固定资产投资比例人均产出弹性的后验均值为1.37;地理位置等个体差异依旧是造成中国发展不平衡问题逐年扩大的重要原因。     

Bain: a program for Bayesian testing of order constrained hypotheses in structural equation models

This paper presents a new statistical method and accompanying software for the evaluation of order constrained hypotheses in structural equation models (SEM). The method is based on a large sample approximation of the Bayes factor using a prior with a data-based correlational structure. An efficient algorithm is written into an R package to ensure fast computation. The package, referred to as Bain, is easy to use for applied researchers. Two classical examples from the SEM literature are used to illustrate the methodology and software.     

Estimation and decomposition of productivity change when production is not efficient: a paneldata approach

This paper addresses estimation and decomposition of productivity change, which is mostly identified as technical change under constant (unitary) returns to scale (CRS). If the CRS assumption is not made, productivity change is decomposed into technical change and scale effects.Furthermore, if inefficiency exists, it also contributes to productivity change. Here we decompose productivity change into efficiency change, technical change, and scale effects. Three alternative approaches using parametric production, cost, and profit functions, which differ in terms of behavioral assumptions on the producers and data requirements, are considered.     

Estimation and decomposition of productivity change when production is not efficient: a paneldata approach

This paper addresses estimation and decomposition of productivity change, which is mostly identified as technical change under constant (unitary) returns to scale (CRS). If the CRS assumption is not made, productivity change is decomposed into technical change and scale effects.Furthermore, if inefficiency exists, it also contributes to productivity change. Here we decompose productivity change into efficiency change, technical change, and scale effects. Three alternative approaches using parametric production, cost, and profit functions, which differ in terms of behavioral assumptions on the producers and data requirements, are considered.     

An empirical analysis of the volatility of the Japanese stock price index: a non-parametric approach

This paper presents an empirical analysis of stochastic features of volatility in the Japanese stock price index, or TOPIX, using high-frequency data sampled every 5 min. The process of TOPIX is modeled by a stochastic differential equation with the time-homogeneous drift and diffusion coefficients. To avoid the risk of misspecification for the volatility function, which is defined by the squared diffusion coefficient, the local polynomial model is applied to the data, and then produced the estimates of the volatility function together with their confidence intervals. The result of the estimation suggests that the volatility function shows similar patterns for one period, but drastically changes for another.     

The effect of number of clusters and cluster size on statistical power and Type I error rates when testing random effects variance components in multilevel linear and logistic regression models

When using multilevel regression models that incorporate cluster-specific random effects, the Wald and the likelihood ratio (LR) tests are used for testing the null hypothesis that the variance of the random effects distribution is equal to zero. We conducted a series of Monte Carlo simulations to examine the effect of the number of clusters and the number of subjects per cluster on the statistical power to detect a non-null random effects variance and to compare the empirical type I error rates of the Wald and LR tests. Statistical power increased with increasing number of clusters and number of subjects per cluster. Statistical power was greater for the LR test than for the Wald test. These results applied to both the linear and logistic regressions, but were more pronounced for the latter. The use of the LR test is preferable to the use of the Wald test.     

Improving the estimators of the parameters of a probit regression model: A ridge regression approach

This paper considered the estimation of the regression parameters of a general probit regression model. Accordingly, we proposed five ridge regression (RR) estimators for the probit regression models for estimating the parameters (β)$(\beta )$ when the weighted design matrix is ill-conditioned and it is suspected that the parameter β$\beta$ may belong to a linear subspace defined by Hβ=h$H\beta =h$. Asymptotic properties of the estimators are studied with respect to quadratic biases, MSE matrices and quadratic risks. The regions of optimality of the proposed estimators are determined based on the quadratic risks. Some relative efficiency tables and risk graphs are provided to illustrate the numerical comparison of the estimators. We conclude that when q≥3$q\ge 3$, one would uses PRRRE; otherwise one uses PTRRE with some optimum size α$\alpha$. We also discuss the performance of the proposed estimators compare to the alternative ridge regression method due to Liu (1993).     

陕西高校教育信息化水平综合评价研究——基于结构方程模型

基于2015年陕西省高校信息化调研问卷数据,运用结构方程模型构建了陕西高校教育信息化水平评估模型。选择六个维度的20个可测变量对陕西高校教育信息化综合水平进行统计分析,并取得了较好的结果。根据各维度标准化路径系数,赋予指标权重,对陕西高校教育信息化水平进行了综合评价和分析,分析结果为陕西高校教育信息化建设决策提供理论依据。     

人力资源的测度及其在生产函数中的应用——以陕西省为例

测度一个地区人力资源的储量对合理开发本地区人力资源以实现经济长远发展具有重要的现实意义。通过大量数据调查,构建了陕西省人才资源指数体系,测定陕西省人力资源的存量,进一步利用永续盘存法测算了陕西省各期资本存量,在此基础上给出了陕西省生产函数的确切表达。分析表明：陕西省在1982-2004年期间的生产函数是规模报酬递增的,并且经济发展呈资本拉动型状态,人力资本对经济发展的支撑与拉动作用微弱。