Related papers: Understanding Factors that Influence Upskilling
Cultural evolution theory suggests that prestige bias - whereby individuals preferentially learn from prestigious figures - has played a key role in human ecological success. However, its impact within online environments remains unclear,…
This article details the impact arising from a sustained public-engagement activity with sixth-form students (16- to 17-year-olds) across two further education colleges during 2012/13. Measuring the impact of public engagement is…
Peer influence on effort devoted to some activity is often studied when effort is unobserved, and the researcher instead observes an outcome that combines effort with other shocks. For instance, in education, achievement measures such as…
This paper provides a simple theoretical framework to evaluate the effect of key parameters of ranking algorithms, namely popularity and personalization parameters, on measures of platform engagement, misinformation and polarization. The…
Opportunities, such as access to education or family background, shape income inequality by influencing the chances of economic success. Unequal opportunities create uncertainty about whether success is merit- or luck-based. We examine how…
Postdoctoral training is a career stage often described as a demanding and anxiety-laden time when many promising PhDs see their academic dreams slip away due to circumstances beyond their control. We use a unique data set of academic…
Several studies indicate that attracting students to research careers requires to engage them from early undergraduate years. Following this paradigm, our Engineering School has developed an undergraduate research program that allows…
Online social networks are used to diffuse opinions and ideas among users, enabling a faster communication and a wider audience. The way in which opinions are conditioned by social interactions is usually called social influence. Social…
As modern social networks allow for faster and broader interactions with friends and acquaintances, online referral programs that promote sales through existing users are becoming increasingly popular. Because it is all too common that…
The rate at which nodes in a network increase their connectivity depends on their fitness to compete for links. For example, in social networks some individuals acquire more social links than others, or on the www some webpages attract…
We study how the design of admissions policies affects the ability of students admitted to universities. In our model, applicants have a multi-dimensional ability, which is a combination of a "type" and a "soft skill." Universities may…
Evidence on educational returns and the factors that determine the demand for schooling in developing countries is extremely scarce. Building on previous studies that show individuals underestimating the returns to schooling, we use two…
Understanding the role of information among disadvantaged students is crucial in explaining their investment decisions in higher education. Indeed, information barriers on the returns and the gains from completing college may explain a…
The "social-networking revolution" of late (e.g., with the advent of social media, Facebook, and the like) has been propelling the crusade to elucidate the embedded networks that underlie economic activity. An unexampled synthesis of…
This study investigates how media influence and educational resources shape individual engagement with cryptocurrencies. As digital assets become increasingly mainstream, social media platforms, influencers, and financial analysts play a…
Mathematicians have traditionally been a select group of academics that produce high-impact ideas allowing substantial results in several fields of science. Throughout the past 35 years, undergraduates enrolling in mathematics or statistics…
Social influence is the process by which individuals adapt their opinion, revise their beliefs, or change their behavior as a result of social interactions with other people. In our strongly interconnected society, social influence plays a…
In a stylized voting model, we establish that increasing the share of critical thinkers -- individuals who are aware of the ambivalent nature of a certain issue -- in the population increases the efficiency of surveys (elections) but might…
In the modern U.S. labor market, digital infrastructures strongly influence how individuals locate opportunities, build skills, and advance wages. Regional differences in computing access, broadband coverage, and digital literacy have…
We introduce and discuss a system of one-dimensional kinetic equations describing the influence of higher education in the social stratification of a multi-agent society. The system is obtained by coupling a model for knowledge formation…