New IES article in the Journal of Labor Economics

Our colleagues Matej Opatrny, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Havrankova, and Milan Scasny have published an article “Publication Bias and Model Uncertainty in Measuring the Effect of Class Size on Achievement” in the Journal of Labor Economics.

Whether smaller classes improve student outcomes is one of the most debated questions in the economics of education. Policymakers and parents often assume that fewer students automatically means better learning. By bringing together all available studies, the authors show that reducing class size does not, on average, lead to better test results. The only clear benefits appear in a few special cases, such as the famous U.S. STAR experiment.

The team was led by Zuzana Havrankova as corresponding author.
JOLE is the official journal of the Society of Labor Economists, published by the University of Chicago Press, and is widely regarded as the leading journal in labor and education economics.