Identifying 20 Key Papers in the Economics of Education

• John Vandivier
This article documents how I went about identifying 20 papers as a starting point in researching the economics of education. Organization:
  1. Motivation
  2. Approach
  3. Results
Motivation First, let me give some motivation and background. I'm in the early stages of dissertation writing and my primary interest is in the economics of education. In particular, I am interested in alternative credentials, but I am attempting to broaden to education in general because I have had a tough time locating data for alternative credentials, while at the same time I have been encouraged in the obvious ability to publish on certain more traditional topics including the use of vouchers. As an economist, I am looking for ways to improve education outcomes. This may mean increasing investment where the ROI is positive, and it may mean implementing austerity to combat waste. In determining ROI, I need to investigate the education literature to come up with reasonable measures of education and factors of performance among other things. I also want to look at the extant economic literature to identify common approaches, measures, and conclusions. Perhaps most of all, I am looking into both sets of literature to find interesting open questions. Approach My approach is to identify at least 5 papers in each of these categories:
  1. Recent papers in top journals of education
  2. Highly regarded education papers, in terms of cites/year, regardless of journal or time
  3. Recent papers in top economics journals regarding education
  4. Highly regarded papers in the economics of education, in terms of cites/year, regardless of journal or time
These 20 papers are a starting point. They will help me identify certain items which I will continue to research after. These items include:
  1. Keywords
  2. Author names
  3. Research designs
  4. Open and closed questions
  5. Interesting prior papers, via citations. In particular, citations in common.
Results