nep-neu 2023-02-13 papers

on Neuroeconomics

Issue of 2023‒02‒13
two papers chosen by

Turning worries into cognitive performance: Results from an online experiment during Covid By Timothée Demont; Daniela Horta Sáenz; Eva Raiber
The effects of schooling on cognitive skills: evidence from education expansions. By Lorenzo Cappellari; Daniele Checchi; Marco Ovidi

Turning worries into cognitive performance: Results from an online experiment during Covid

By:	Timothée Demont (Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, AMSE, Marseille, France.); Daniela Horta Sáenz (Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, AMSE, Marseille, France.); Eva Raiber (Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, AMSE, Marseille, France.)
Abstract:	Worrisome topics, such as climate change, economic crises, or the Covid-19 pandemic, are increasingly present and pervasive due to digital media and social networks. Do such worries affect cognitive performance? The effect of a distressing topic might be very different depending on whether people have the scope and means to cope with the consequences. It can also differ by how performance is rewarded, for instance, if is there a goal that people can focus on. In an online experiment during the Covid-19 pandemic, we test how the cognitive performance of university students responds to topics discussing (i) current mental health issues related to social restrictions or (ii) future labor market uncertainties linked to the economic contraction. Moreover, we study how the response is affected by a performance goal by conditioning payout on reaching a minimum level. We find that the labor market topic increases cognitive performance when performance is motivated by a goal. Conversely, there is no such effect after the mental health topic. We even find a weak negative effect among those mentally vulnerable when payout is not based on reaching a goal. The positive effect is driven by students with larger financial and social resources, pointing at an inequality-widening mechanism.
Keywords:	cognitive performance, financial worries, COVID-19, financial incentives, anxiety, coping behaviors
JEL:	C91 D91 D81
Date:	2023–01
URL:	https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2302&r=neu

The effects of schooling on cognitive skills: evidence from education expansions.

By:	Lorenzo Cappellari (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Daniele Checchi; Marco Ovidi (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)
Abstract:	We quantify the causal effect of schooling on cognitive skills across 21 countries and the full distribution of working-age individuals. We exploit exogenous variation in educational attainment induced by a broad set of institutional reforms affecting different cohorts of individuals in different countries. We find a positive effect of an additional year of schooling on internationally-comparable numeracy and literacy scores. We show that the effect is substantially homogeneous by gender and socio-economic background and that it is larger for individuals completing a formal qualification rather than dropping out. Results suggest that early and late school years are the most decisive for cognitive skill development. Exploiting unique survey data on the use of skills, we find suggestive evidence that our result is mediated by access to high-skill jobs.
Keywords:	Cognitive skills, Educational Policies, Returns to schooling.
JEL:	H52 I21 I28
Date:	2022–12
URL:	https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie1:def122&r=neu

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