Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: The Impact of the Post-9/11 GI Bill on educational decisions and outcomes

经济学博士论文研究：9/11 后《退伍军人权利法案》对教育决策和结果的影响

• 批准号: 1427264
• 负责人: Sarah Turner
• 金额: $ 1.58万
• 依托单位: University of Virginia Main Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-07-15 至 2015-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1427264&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Economics; Impact

This study explores the effects of the Post-9/11 GI Bill and leverages several features of the benefit expansion to examine three questions of general interest in the areas of labor economics, public economics, and industrial organization. First, what is the effect of financial aid on older students? Second, does in-kind financial aid result in individuals choosing to enroll in more expensive (plausibly higher quality) institutions; and, if so, does this shift result in increased educational attainment? And, finally, what is the economic incidence of targeted federal financial aid (i.e., do colleges adjust institutional aid to offset the subsidy)? The study involves the creation of a unique panel of data on all recent active duty individuals from the Department of Defense linked with detailed post-secondary data from the state of Virginia and the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC). This will be the first dataset of its kind in terms of the detailed year by year information on military choices and post-military educational decisions and outcomes. The researchers will use difference-in-differences, triple difference, and regression discontinuity empirical approaches to answer these questions.The proposed research aims to contribute to the academic literature on the effects of financial aid on individuals and institutions, the effect of in-kind versus conditional cash transfers for education, and the economic incidence of targeted subsidies to enrollment in higher education. While the literature on the enrollment effects of financial aid on traditional students is quite developed, the effects on non-traditional students and the effects of financial aid and school match on attainment are open questions. This will be the first study of federal financial aid that uses both over time and across state variation in the degree of benefit expansion.In addition to specific interest in military veterans, the analyses will contribute to a better understanding of how to tailor existing and future financial aid programs to better achieve their goals. Understanding the role that the Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits play in potentially helping hundreds of thousands of veterans, the vast majority of whom are first-generation students, go to and stay in college is critical in evaluating the mark this GI Bill will leave sixty years after the original GI Bill that contributed to a near doubling of college enrollment in less than a decade, and is credited as a driving force behind the creation of the modern middle class. Helping individuals to reenter civilian life successfully or invest in additional skills to advance their military careers has large national security implications. Despite the clear import of this topic there is essentially no information available. This project makes an important step in filling the gap.

这项研究探讨了9/11美国退伍军人法案的影响，并利用福利扩张的几个特征来研究劳动经济学、公共经济学和产业组织领域中普遍感兴趣的三个问题。首先，经济援助对年龄较大的学生有什么影响？其次，实物经济援助是否会导致个人选择进入更昂贵(看似更高质量)的院校就读；如果是这样，这种转变是否会导致教育程度的提高？最后，有针对性的联邦财政援助的经济发生率是多少(即，大学是否调整机构援助以抵消补贴)？这项研究涉及创建一个独特的数据小组，将国防部最近所有现役人员的数据与弗吉尼亚州和国家学生信息交换中心(NSC)的详细中学后数据联系起来。这将是关于军事选择和军事后教育决定和结果的详细信息的第一个此类数据集。研究人员将使用差异差异、三重差异和回归不连续的实证方法来回答这些问题。拟议的研究旨在为学术文献做出贡献，这些文献涉及经济援助对个人和机构的影响，实物和有条件的现金转移对教育的影响，以及有针对性的高等教育入学补贴的经济发生率。虽然关于助学金对传统学生入学影响的文献已经相当丰富，但对非传统学生的影响以及助学金和学校匹配对学业成就的影响都是悬而未决的问题。这将是第一次对联邦财政援助进行研究，该研究利用了随着时间和各州的不同而扩大福利的程度。除了对退伍军人的具体兴趣之外，这些分析将有助于更好地理解如何调整现有和未来的财政援助计划，以更好地实现他们的目标。了解后9/11退伍军人法案福利在潜在帮助数十万退伍军人(其中绝大多数是第一代学生)上大学并留在大学方面所起的作用，对于评估这项退伍军人法案将在最初的退伍军人法案出台60年后留下的分数至关重要。该法案在不到10年的时间里推动了大学入学人数几乎翻了一番，并被认为是现代中产阶级创造的驱动力。帮助个人成功地重返平民生活或投资于额外的技能以推进他们的军事生涯，对国家安全具有重大影响。尽管这一专题意义明确，但基本上没有可用的信息。该项目在填补这一空白方面迈出了重要的一步。