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The Economic Value of Breaking Bad: Misbehavior, Schooling and the Labor Market

Author

Listed:
  • Papageorge, Nicholas W.

    (Johns Hopkins University)

  • Ronda, Victor

    (Aarhus University)

  • Zheng, Yu

    (City University of Hong Kong)

Abstract
Prevailing research argues that childhood misbehavior in the classroom is bad for schooling and, presumably, bad for adult outcomes. In contrast, we argue that childhood misbehavior represents some underlying non-cognitive skills that are valuable in the labor market. We follow work from psychology and categorize observed classroom misbehavior into two underlying latent factors. We then estimate a model of educational attainment and earnings outcomes, allowing the impact of each of the two factors to vary by outcome. We find one of the factors, labeled in the psychological literature as externalizing behavior (and linked, for example, to aggression), reduces educational attainment yet increases earnings. Unlike most models where non-cognitive skills that increase human capital through education also increase labor market skills, our findings illustrate how some non-cognitive skills can be productive in some economic contexts and counter-productive in others. Policies designed to promote human capital accumulation could therefore have mixed effects or even negative economic consequences, especially for policies that target non-cognitive skill formation for children or adolescents which are aimed solely at improving educational outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Papageorge, Nicholas W. & Ronda, Victor & Zheng, Yu, 2017. "The Economic Value of Breaking Bad: Misbehavior, Schooling and the Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 10822, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10822
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Li, Liming & Avendano, Mauricio, 2023. "Lone parents' employment policy and adolescents’ socioemotional development: Quasi-experimental evidence from a UK reform," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    2. French, Eric Baird & O’Dea, Cormac & MacCuish, Jamie, 2021. "The Intergenerational Elasticity of Earnings: Exploring the Mechanisms," CEPR Discussion Papers 15975, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Victor Ronda & Esben Agerbo & Dorthe Bleses & Preben Bo Mortensen & Anders Børglum & Ole Mors & Michael Rosholm & David M. Hougaard & Merete Nordentoft & Thomas Werge, 2022. "Family disadvantage, gender, and the returns to genetic human capital," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(2), pages 550-578, April.
    4. Nicholas W Papageorge & Kevin Thom, 2020. "Genes, Education, and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(3), pages 1351-1399.
    5. Ferman, Bruno & Fontes, Luiz Felipe, 2020. "Discriminating Behavior: Evidence from teachers’ grading bias," MPRA Paper 100400, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Hélène Le Forner, 2021. "Formation of Children’s Cognitive and Socio-Emotional Skills: Is All Parental Time Equal?," AMSE Working Papers 2117, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    7. Nicola Barban & Elisabetta De Cao & Marco Francesconi, 2021. "Gene-Environment Effects on Female Fertility," CESifo Working Paper Series 9337, CESifo.
    8. Shelly Lundberg, 2020. "Educational gender gaps," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(2), pages 416-439, October.
    9. Del Bono, Emilia & Etheridge, Ben & Garcia, Paul, 2024. "The economic value of childhood socio-emotional skills," ISER Working Paper Series 2024-01, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    10. Alaoui, Larbi & Fons-Rosen, Christian, 2021. "Know when to fold’em: The flip side of grit," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    11. Sreevidya Ayyar & Uta Bolt & Eric French & Cormac O'Dea, 2024. "Imagine your life at 25: Gender conformity and later-life outcomes," IFS Working Papers W24/32, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    12. Orazio Attanasio & Áureo de Paula & Alessandro Toppeta, 2020. "Intergenerational Mobility in Socio-emotional Skills," NBER Working Papers 27823, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Orazio Attanasio & Sarah Cattan & Costas Meghir, 2021. "Early Childhood Development, Human Capital and Poverty," NBER Working Papers 29362, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Shelly Lundberg, 2017. "Noncognitive Skills as Human Capital," NBER Chapters, in: Education, Skills, and Technical Change: Implications for Future US GDP Growth, pages 219-243, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Turner, Alex J. & Fichera, Eleonora & Sutton, Matt, 2022. "Estimating the late-life effects of social and emotional skills in childhood using midlife mediators," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    16. Mari, Gabriele & Keizer, Renske, 2020. "Parental job loss and early child development in the Great Recession," SocArXiv 2596e, Center for Open Science.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    non-cognitive skills; education; labor;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

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