Microeconometric Analysis of Education Policy with Large Administrative Data

This program will study the causal effects of educational systems and educational policies in primary and secondary education on human capital formation. In order to achieve this goal, we will analyze various hypotheses concerning educational policy by analyzing government statistics such as microdata of the national academic assessment tests by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Population Census combined with other existing surveys in addition to our own.

The themes of analysis of this research project are: (1) quantitative analysis of optimal school consolidation; (2) identification of the effects of school accountability and discretion on students' academic outcomes; (3) the impact of changes in relative academic ability within schools on subsequent academic performances and risky behaviors of students; (4) analysis of educational policy using educational administrative panel data; (5) dynamic analysis of career choices of high school students; (6) long-term analysis of changes in the compulsory education system on human capital formation. Quantitatively verifying the effects of these educational policies and institutional changes in Japan with the declining population phase will yield research results with high academic value and provide economic insights on desirable primary and secondary education policy in Japan.

July 13, 2020 - December 31, 2022