A long history in economics going back to Adam Smith has argued that people give primacy to merit – rather than luck – in distributive choices. We provide a theoretical framework formalizing the merit primacy effect, and study it in a novel experiment where third-party spectators redistribute from high-earners to low-earners in situations where both merit and luck determine earnings. We identify a strong and consistent merit primacy effect in the spectator behaviour. The results shed new light on inequality acceptance in society, by showing how just a little bit of merit can make people significantly more inequality accepting.
Background: The development and promotion of educational games are still outpacing knowledge of these games' effects, raising calls for evidence of benefits and challenges. Studies suggest that students and teachers like games, but the payoff of the investment in terms of increased motivation and achievement remains unclear.Objectives: This study investigates the pure effect of a marketing simulation game on motivation, perceived learning and achievement, above and beyond regular student-active instruction.Methods: We applied a randomized, controlled experiment in a marketing course in upper-secondary schools (N classes = 22; N students = 433) comparing a collaborativecompetitive marketing simulation game with regular, case-based, student-active instruction on three groups of outcome measures: motivation, perceived ability, and achievement. Additionally, students and teachers provided quantitative and qualitative feedback on game experiences.
Results and Conclusions:We showcase the importance of a robust study design with valid compound instruments. Moreover, investigations of the game implementation and experiences reveal insights about intervention timing, differential negative consequences by gender and need for reflection opportunities. We find no clear evidence of positive or negative effects of the game, despite students' and teachers' satisfaction.Implications: Beyond the effect evaluation, we offer recommendations to researchers and developers of educational games about scaffolding, timing and teacher competence building.
This study compares the transition from education to work for Norwegian graduates with a professional STEM master’s degree to that of their peers with a non-professional STEM master’s degree. We find that professional STEM graduates tend to have better labour market outcomes than other STEM graduates. However, the unemployment rate of professional STEM graduates is more sensitive to business cycle fluctuations. The findings suggest that a professional STEM degree does not protect against unemployment, in contrast to findings from studies of other professional degrees.
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