ERIC Number: EJ788106
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Apr
Pages: 11
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0272-7757
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
What Makes a Leader? Relative Age and High School Leadership
Dhuey, Elizabeth; Lipscomb, Stephen
Economics of Education Review, v27 n2 p173-183 Apr 2008
Economists have identified a substantial adult wage premium attached to high school leadership activity. Unresolved is the extent to which it constitutes human capital acquisition or proxies for an "innate" unobserved skill. We document a determinant of high school leadership activity that is associated purely with school structure, rather than genetics or family background--a student's relative age. State-specific school entry cut-offs induce systematic within grade variation in student maturity, which in turn generates differences in leadership activity. We find that the relatively oldest students are 4-11 percent more likely to be high school leaders.
Descriptors: Human Capital, High Schools, Maturity (Individuals), Student Leadership, Student Characteristics, Economics, Age Grade Placement, School Entrance Age, Correlation, Age Differences, Educational Policy
Elsevier. 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, FL 32887-4800. Tel: 877-839-7126; Tel: 407-345-4020; Fax: 407-363-1354; e-mail: usjcs@elsevier.com; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2131
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A