TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Biewen, Martin
AU  - Tapalaga, Madalina
        TI  - Life-Cycle Educational Choices: Evidence for Two German Cohorts
        PY  - 2016/Feb/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 9699
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp9699
        AB  - We study life-cycle educational transitions in an education system characterized by early tracking and institutionalized branches of academic and vocational training but with the possibility to revise earlier decisions at later stages. Our model covers all major transitions ranging from preschool education through primary and secondary schooling to different forms of tertiary education and vocational training. We consider the role of previous decisions and background characteristics at each decision node and also study 'indirect' routes through the system. Our results suggest that the option to revise earlier decisions is even more socially selective than the earlier track choices that are revised later. We also model unobserved heterogeneity and document the sorting of individuals along unobserved characteristics across the stages of the system.
        KW  - vocational training
KW  - life-cycle
KW  - tracking
KW  - educational decisions
KW  - non-standard transitions
        ER  -