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Within the context of a constantly changing labour market, the most commonly used method of forecasting future imbalances between the supply and demand for certain types of education, or qualifications, is the manpower recruitment approach. This paper demonstrates the incorrect assumption within this approach, of a unique relationship between education and occupations where for every occupation a specific type of education exists. The actual structure of the Dutch labour market is presented to illustrate the development of a manpower forecasting model that allows for the flexibility of the labour market. In conclusion, the authors demonstrate future trends in demand expected for the Dutch labour market in the years from 1995 to 2000. Show less

This paper explores the interface between personality psychology and economics. We examine the predictive power of personality and the stability of personality traits over the life cycle. We develop simple analytical frameworks for interpreting the evidence in personality psychology and suggest promising avenues for future research.

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This paper reports evidence that an individual meeting with a study counselor at high school significantly improves the quality of choice of tertiary educational field, as self-assessed 18 months after graduation from college. The results are strongest among males and those with low educated parents. To address endogeneity, [the authors] explore the variation in study counseling practices between schools. Tentative analyses also indicate that counselors reduce students’ uncertainty about their own individual preferences at least to the same extent as uncertainty about objective measures such as employment prospects.

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In recent years international student mobility increased. While net hosting countries are in a better position to win highly educated students for their labour force, they face the additional cost of providing the education. In much of continental Europe these costs are not levied on students, but are borne by the national tax payers, making them an active topic of debate. Borrowing some fundamental equations from the Lucas growth model, this paper addresses the question whether countries benefit from educating international students. We derive conditions under which international education has a positive effect on economic growth, overall and in each specific country. Based on empirically motivated parameter values to calibrate our two-country model we find that international student mobility increases steady state growth for both countries on average by 0.013 percentage points. A small country that is favoured by the inflows of a larger country could experience an extra growth of 0.049 percentage points. The benefits from international education increase when a country tunes its education and migration policy.

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It is often suggested in policy debates that the employment of highly educated workers in jobs traditionally held by lower skilled workers leads to skill wastage and a worsening labour market position for the less educated. This process is generally referred to as 'bumping down' or 'crowding out'. The contributions in this book provide insights into the role of education in society by investigating the extent to which these arguments of overeducation are valid. A range of approaches are brought together to create a complete picture of the debate in economics about under-utilisation of skills and bumping down. The introductory chapter by the editors (p. 3-23) is entitled 'The debate in economics about skill utilization'. Part one, 'Underutilization or upgrading?', contains the following chapters: Technology and the demand for skills / Edward Wolff (p. 27-56); Has the Finnish labour market bumped the least educated? / Rita Asplund and Reija Lilja (p. 57-76); Are British workers becoming more skilled? / Francis Green, David Ashton, Brendan Burchell, Bryn Davies and Alan Felstead (p. 77-106). Part two, 'Causes of underutilization', contains the following chapters: Overeducation and crowding out of low-skilled workers / Joan Muysken and Bas ter Weel (p. 109-132); Overqualification makes low-wage employment attractive / Thomas Zwick (p. 133-156); Overeducation and crowding out in Britain / Harminder Battu and Peter Sloane (p. 157-174); The effect of bumping down on wages: an empirical test / Ides Nicaise (p. 175-187). Part three, 'Consequences of underutilization of skills', contains the following chapters: Low wages, skills and the utilization of skills / Lex Borghans, Allard Bruinshoofd and Andries de Grip (p. 191-202); Do more high-skilled workers occupy simple jobs during bad times? / Pieter Gautier (p. 203-230); Job competition in the Dutch labour market / Loek Groot and Albert Hoek (p. 231-252). Show less

Over the past two decades there has been a substantial increase in the mobility of students in Europe, while also research has become much more internationally oriented. In this paper we document changes in the structure of research and higher education in Europe and investigate potential explanations for the strong increase in its international orientation. While higher education started to grow substantially around 1960, only a few decades later, research and higher education transformed gradually to the American standard. Decreased communication costs are likely causes for this trend. This transformation is most clearly revealed in the change of language used in research from the national language, Latin, German and French to English. Smaller language areas made this transformation earlier while there are also clear timing differences between research fields. Sciences and medicine tend to switch to English first, followed by economics and social sciences, while for law and arts only the first signs of such a transformation are currently observed. This suggests that returns to scale and the transferability of research results are important influences in the decision to adopt the international standard.

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IQ tests and achievement tests do not capture non-cognitive skills - personality traits, goals, character and motivations that are valued in the labour market, in school and elsewhere. For many outcomes, their predictive power rivals or exceeds that of cognitive skills. Skills are stable across situations with different incentives. Skills are not immutable over the life cycle. While they have a genetic basis they are also shaped by environments, including families, schools and peers. Skill development is a dynamic process. The early years are important in shaping all skills and in laying the foundations for successful investment and intervention in the later years. During the early years, both cognitive and non-cognitive skills are highly malleable. During the adolescent years, non-cognitive skills are more malleable than cognitive skills. The differential plasticity of different skills by age has important implications for the design of effective policies. This paper reviews a variety of interventions across different stages of the life cycle. [The authors] interpret these studies using an economic model of skill development. Many effective programs work because they foster non-cognitive skills. Some have annual rates of return that are comparable to those from investments in the stock market. Parental involvement is an important component of successful early interventions just as successful adolescent mentoring is an age-appropriate version of parental involvement. Building an early base of skills that promote later-life learning and engagement in school and society is often a better strategy than waiting for problems to occur.

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It is well-known that the quality of vocational education and training (VET) depends on how well a given programme aligns with the values and interests of its stakeholders, but it is less well-known what these values and interests are and to what extent they are shared across different groups of stakeholders. [The authors] use vignettes to quantify the values that four groups of stakeholders assign to nine attributes relating to VET quality. The four stakeholders are students, teachers, workplace training supervisors, and policymakers. The nine attributes are employers' appreciation of students, graduation rate, obtained language skills of students, mentoring hours in workplace learning, challenge, structure, students' appreciation of teachers, schooling hours, and attention to civic education. Five hundred thirty-one Dutch respondents were repeatedly asked to rank a set of four hypothetical programmes, each with a specific value on the nine quality indicators. Through conjoint analysis [the authors] obtain the values that the stakeholders assigned to the nine attributes when evaluating the quality of VET programmes. The values assigned to the attributes 'a challenging curriculum' and 'employers' satisfaction' were similar across the four groups of stakeholders, yet the values assigned to the remaining attributes differed substantially across stakeholders. This illustrates the diversity in values and interests of different stakeholders, and points to a need to quantify these values, for use by both the Dutch government and VET colleges, to improve the overall quality of education and the match between vocational programmes and their stakeholders.

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This article is one of a series dealing with issues relating to the development of the supply of, and demand for, qualifications and skills, particularly in relation to initial education and training. The authors draw on relevant research on the European labour market to explore the tendency in most European countries for higher educated people to secure jobs once held by lower skilled people. This tendency is often viewed as evidence that there is an over-supply of higher educated workers who consequently 'bump down' lower educated workers to even lower sections of the labour market. This paper provides an overview of the causes of under-utilisation of higher educated workers and examines the implications for the lower skilled workers formerly employed in these jobs.

The volume of collected papers is indexed at TD/IRD 88.37. Show less

This paper analyzes the tendency of people to choose default options when offered courses to acquire job related skills. [The authors] ask a random sample of Dutch people aged 6-80 which three skills are most important in their (future or past) jobs. Further on in the survey, [the authors] randomly select one of the skills the respondent indicated and (hypothetically) offer the respondent a course regarding this skill. The respondent can accept this offer, but can also exchange it for a course regarding one of the two other skills indicated. [The] findings indicate that people generally have a strong tendency to choose the default option. This effect is similar across gender and education level. It appears that the effect of the default option is less strong around age 30 and declines after age 60.

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