Research Areas

Returns to Education
Returns to education are a result of educational processes. They are determined by institutional conditions and hence they also emerge from educational contexts. They are closely connected to competencies and skills of individuals participating in educational processes - besides cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills are relevant, e.g. motivation and self-regulation. Various kinds of returns can be distinguished: Those that can be measured in terms of monetary benefits, e.g. income and wages, versus returns that cannot or barely be measured in monetary terms, e.g. the increase of employment opportunities or higher status. Furthermore, returns to education include components not related to employment, e.g. health behavior or individual well-being. Returns to education from earlier periods influence returns to education in subsequent periods. Higher returns can also contribute to an increase in the welfare of society as a whole.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. C. Katharina Spieß
German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)
Projects with this research priority
- College for Interdisciplinary Education Research
- Development of an achievement test measuring student competencies in the fields of economics, labour, technics and vocational education
- Die Welt der Kinder: Weltwissen und Weltdeutung in Schul- und Kinderbüchern zwischen 1850 und 1918
- Education Through Language and Writing
- Educational choices and educational pathways within the context of structural changes in Berlin’s secondary school system (BERLIN-Study)
- Evaluation of the Federal European School in Berlin
- Follow-up study on former students of special schools (being part of starting cohort IV within the National Educational Panel Study)
- Inclusive Education in Lower Secondary Schools in Germany – INSIDE
- National Educational Panel Study (NEPS)
- Neurobiology of motivated behavior
- No child left behind – The power of reading (elementary schools)
- Persönlichkeit und Bildungseffekte (PEB) im Rahmen des Verbundprojektes „Bildungserträge im Lebenslauf“
- PIAAC-Leibniz-Network (PIAAC-LN) Acquisition and use of competencies in adult age–Network on analysis, further advancement and dissemination of PIAAC
- Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies - long-term study (PIAAC-L)
- Project Management for the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC National)
- Smart Public Intangibles (SPINTAN)
- The multimedia history textbook (MBook) (completed)
- The political economy of education policy: Insights from a public opinion survey
LERN-Partners
- Institute for Employment Research (IAB)
- DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education
- German Institute for Adult Education – Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning (DIE)
- Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research. Member of the Leibniz Association (GEI)
- GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
- Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi)
- RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research
- WZB Berlin Social Science Center
- ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research
- Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology (LIN)
- Institute for Quality Development in Education (IQB)
- German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)
- Ifo Institute – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich
- Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN)
- German Center for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW)
- Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology (HIB)
- Mercator Institute for Literacy and Language Education