Kristof De Witte

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Verified

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• PhD in economics
• Professor (Full) at KU Leuven

Using a computer-based learning environment, the present paper studied the effects of adaptive instruction and elaborated feedback on the learning outcomes of secondary school students in a financial education program. We randomly assigned schools to four conditions on a crossing of two factors: the type of instruction (uniform or adaptive) and fee...

This study examines whether online teacher professional development (OTPD), in the form of an interactive webinar series that encourages collaborative learning, improves student achievement. We conducted a randomised controlled trial with 1102 students, 45 teachers and 30 secondary schools in Flanders, Belgium. As a basis for the study, we develope...

This paper evaluates the inefficiency of adult education programs. Using an advanced four-component stochastic frontier model on Belgian adult education data, we distinguish between persistent and transient inefficiency of adult education programs. Whereas persistent inefficiency is structural and difficult to tackle because of its time-invariant n...

Although widely used in policy debates, the literature on children’s outcomes when raised by same-sex parents mostly relies on small selective samples or samples based on cross-sectional survey data. This has led to a lack of statistical power and the inability to distinguish children born to same-sex parents from children of separated parents. We...

The school closures owing to the 2020 COVID‐19 crisis resulted in a significant disruption of education provision, leading to fears of learning losses and of an increase in educational inequality. This article evaluates the effects of school closures based on standardised tests in the last year of primary school in the Dutch‐speaking Flemish region...

Public services around the world face growing demands, limited budgets, and changing populations. As a result, analyzing efficiency is more important than ever. Techniques like data envelopment analysis, stochas-tic frontier analysis, and machine learning techniques offer valuable tools for improving how public services are managed. This special is...

Since 2016, multinationals with a revenue over € 750 million have to submit country-by-country reports to tax authorities to deter tax avoidance. Using a regression discontinuity design, we provide evidence for an increase in affected multinationals’ effective tax rates. However, the most aggressive multinationals with known tax haven presence were...

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has emerged as a powerful analytical tool, revolutionising the field of Operational Research (OR) and contributing to advancements in performance evaluation methodologies. This practical literature review delves into the extensive body of research surrounding DEA, focusing particularly on its evolution within the las...

Tutoring programs are highly effective in improving students’ outcomes in higher education. However, little is known about students’ demand for tutoring or the optimal design of tutoring programs. Additionally, while privately provided tutoring can threaten social mobility, little is known about students’ consumption of private tutoring. Using a di...

Since 2016, multinationals with a revenue over EUR 750 million have to submit country-by-country reports to tax authorities to deter tax avoidance. Using a regression discontinuity design, we provide evidence for an increase in affected multinationals’ effective tax rates. However, the most aggressive multinationals with known tax haven presence we...

Purpose: An evidence-based approach to improving instructional practices and student outcomes in data use. It is a systematic process of evaluating and analysing learning problems, collecting and transforming various types of data into instructional decisions, and implementing informed actions to improve instruction and student learning. Since tea...

In a post-COVID-19 world, in which societies are moving to promote the recovery of learning lost during the pandemic crisis, it becomes increasingly critical to find efficient and cost-effective ways to invest in education systems. Not only that, but the reduced attention given to COVID-19, regardless of its lingering effects, also precipitates a c...

Teacher absenteeism has high individual and societal costs and triggers a vicious cycle by increasing teacher absenteeism for the remaining teachers. Moreover, teachers’ non-attendance disrupts the learning process and affects student motivation and achievement. Teacher absenteeism further exacerbates the increasing teacher shortage observed in man...

This paper evaluates the impact of an online game-based financial education tool on students' financial literacy levels. By conducting a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) involving 2,220 students across four countries in a multi-country experimental setting, we demonstrate that the intervention significantly enhances students' financial literacy le...

Despite the potential for personalized learning, e-learning courses often suffer from low completion rates. In order to address this issue, we propose and empirically test a theoretical mechanism that examines how gamification can enhance the completion rate in adaptive learning courses by promoting a more positive behavioral response and attitude...

The fiscal behavior of local governments has gained additional attention from academia and policymakers due to decentralization reforms transferring power from central to lower levels of government. As local governments assume more responsibilities for public goods and services, understanding their expenditure composition and trade-offs becomes cru...

Privatization of education has become a global trend, tailored to fit local economic and political contexts. The papers in this collection highlight the varied aspects of privatization, including its exogenous/endogenous, central/peripheral, and for-profit/philanthropic dimensions. The researchers presented the multifaceted effects and consequences...

This paper takes stock of the long-term evolution of the trend in student achievement in the final year of primary education in Flanders, Belgium. Using panel data with standardised test scores, we assess the average change in students' test scores between-cohorts, by comparing most recent cohorts with either the pre-pandemic levels (the year 2019)...

Introduction The problem of LGBQIA-phobia has been extendedly reported as a problem that threatens the quality of life and well-being, particularly for trans and intersex individuals. Scientific evidence points at the high presence of this form of violence and discrimination during adolescence and youth, negatively affecting the prospects of the vi...

The fiscal behavior of local governments has gained significant attention from academia and policymakers due to decentralization reforms transferring power from central to lower levels of government. As local governments assume more responsibilities for public goods and services, understanding their expenditure composition and trade-offs becomes cr...

The fiscal behavior of local governments has gained significant attention from academia and policymakers due to decentralization reforms transferring power from central to lower levels of government. As local governments assume more responsibilities for public goods and services, understanding their expenditure composition and trade-offs becomes cr...

Low-income students’ preferences for higher education might depend on the uncertainty of financial aid. Using a time discontinuity design, this paper exploits the unanticipated cancellation of a nationwide Colombian merit and need-based scholarship, called Ser Pilo Paga, to study its consequences on students’ preferences for higher education. Prefe...

To curb the spread of the coronavirus, almost all countries implemented nationwide school closures. Suddenly, students experienced a serious disruption to their school and social lives. In this article, we argue that psychological research offers crucial insights for guiding policy about school closures during crises. To this end, we review the exi...

We investigate whether vocationally and generally educated individuals differ in their on-the-job learning and how this difference evolves over the career. To this end, we exploit the European Skills and Jobs Survey dataset and rely on instrumental variable estimation. While our descriptive results suggest that workers with a vocational degree expe...

Previous empirical evidence is mixed regarding the impact of universal preschool on cognitive skills. We show that preschool enrollment can impact test scores positively if it does not lead to earlier school enrollment. We examine rich student data and use different enrollment cutoff dates in Hungary to separate the beneficial direct effect of earl...

The school closures, that aimed to prevent spreading the coronavirus COVID-19, seriously affected the learning process of millions of students worldwide. As the school closures prevented students from making progress at the same pace as before, and as knowledge and skills were forgotten, a ‘learning deficit’ was developed. However, this learning de...

This paper investigates the education outcomes at the end of primary education in the presence of multiple shocks. Using the exact same formative test since 2019, we document how learning deficits accumulate over time due to existing negative trends in a school system and the amplifying effects of disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparing...

Ondanks de centrale rol van het onderwijs bij het bevorderen van economische langetermijngroei en -welvaart zetten meerdere samenhangende uitdagingen onderwijsstelsels onder druk. Zo ook in Vlaanderen. Net zoals in veel andere Westerse landen observeren we er een dalende trend in leerprestaties, een hoog aantal vroegtijdige schoolverlaters, leraren...

De hoge energiekosten tonen aan dat beperkte investeringen in infrastructuur in het verleden een financiële molensteen worden voor de toekomst. Ruim één op acht van onze schoolgebouwen is meer dan een eeuw oud. In dit Leuvens Economisch Standpunt verkennen we de staat van onze schoolinfrastructuur, tonen we aan hoe de verouderde infrastructuur een...

This paper reports on teachers' preferences for online professional development programmes in Indonesia. Relying on data from 330 university English teachers, the results of our discrete choice experiment suggest a significant positive preference for synchronous interaction but a negative preference for costly programmes, programmes offering no cer...

The online traces that students leave on electronic learning platforms; the improved integration of educational, administrative and online data sources; and the increasing accessibility of hands-on software allow the domain of learning analytics to flourish. Learning analytics, as in interdisciplinary domain borrowing from statistics, computer scie...

Discrimination against the LGBT+ community persists across Europe. Education is not immune to this: Young people across the continent continue to experience homophobic and transphobic behaviour in schools. This publication provides education practitioners and policy makers with historical perspectives, trends in educational practice, and reflection...

Although a large body of literature has examined the effects of open government from a theoretical perspective, evidence on the empirical effects is still limited. This paper analyses parental response to an open government initiative consisting of the publication on a government website of school inspection reports. As an indicator of school quali...

Purpose Professional development interventions (PDIs) are crucial for equipping teachers to use data effectively. Relying on previous studies reporting on such interventions, this paper aims to identify and synthesise the goals, dimensions and conditions of PDIs for data use. This paper also examines the evidence of the effect of such interventions...

We propose using Stochastic Frontier Analysis to estimate pupils' academic underachievement. We model underachievement as the gap between expected achievement and actual achievement, not due to a learning disability. Our data are a panel for 2,228 Belgian pupils observed over 6 years of primary education. We found that the average underachievement...

This paper provides causal evidence on the effects of parental involvement on student outcomes in a financial education course based on two randomised controlled trials with a total of 2779 students from grade 8 and 9 in Flanders. Using an experimental design with three treatment groups, the impact of parental involvement in homework is distinguish...

We evaluate whether a scalable online teacher professional development (OTPD) module that requires little time investment enhances students’ financial literacy. Two randomised controlled trials were performed, with 1827 students, 53 teachers and 47 schools participating. The financial education programme on its own increased students’ financial kno...

Financial illiteracy affects considerably the decision-making of individuals, leading to sub-optimal outcomes and lower financial welfare in the society. Although financial education has been demonstrated to improve financial knowledge, evidence of long-term effects is limited. This could be due to the presence of cognitive biases such as myopia, w...

Given the expected advantages for individuals and societies, financial literacy is high on the policy agenda in many countries. This paper reports the results from a unique survey conducted on a sample of 13–16-year-old students in five European countries, aimed at measuring and comparing their level of financial literacy skills. The results indica...

This paper discusses the governance challenges that increasing hybridity poses to higher education institutions (HEIs). It examines the potential of network governance as a public governance approach that allows HEIs to find a good fit to their environment and become accountable to complex stakeholder environments. Central research questions are as...

The correct affiliation is “Leuven Economics of Education Research (LEER), KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 69, 3000 Leuven, Belgium”

The present paper examined the effect of adjusting learning material to the out-of-school interests of students. In particular, using a field experiment involving 1449 secondary school students in 31 Flemish schools, we evaluated the effectiveness of the instructional method “example choice” in a computer-assisted financial education program. Examp...

This paper introduces an innovative Bayesian machine learning algorithm to draw interpretable inference on heterogeneous causal effects in the presence of imperfect compliance (e.g., under an irregular assignment mechanism). We show, through Monte Carlo simulations, that the proposed Bayesian Causal Forest with Instrumental Variable (BCF-IV) method...

Sugary drinks in schools have been demonized for their potential long‐term contribution to rising obesity rates. Surprisingly, there is only little evidence on the immediate effects of sugary drinks in schools. This paper provides experimental evidence on the in‐class effects of sugary drinks on behavior and student achievement. We randomly assigne...

Little is known about the individual differences in student experiences and expectations of the COVID-19 crisis and the resulting school closures. Yet, as the crisis may have uniquely impacted students, knowledge about their personalities is highly relevant. In a sample of 347 Flemish students, this study explored the association between personalit...

- We onderzoeken hoe de leerprestaties van leerlingen en de ongelijkheid binnen scholen een jaar na de schoolsluitingen veranderd zijn. Met uitzondering van Mens & Maatschappij zien we in alle leergebieden significante leervertraging voor de getoetste leerinhouden sinds het begin van de pandemie. In 2021 is de significante leervertraging gestopt vo...

Almost two years after the largest disruption of education in history, the question remains as to whether, and to what extent, school outcomes are resilient and inequality persists. To answer these questions, this paper exploits a unique panel data-set with standardised test scores and administrative data pertaining to the last year of primary educ...

Sugary drinks in schools have been demonized for their potential long-term contribution to rising obesity rates. Surprisingly, there is only little evidence on the immediate effects of sugary drinks in schools. This paper provides experimental evidence on the in-class effects of sugary drinks on behavior and student achievement. We randomly assigne...

This paper develops a novel methodology to estimate in a dynamic setting the causal impact of a policy on efficiency. Classical efficiency techniques evaluate multidimensional performance but ignore the endogeneity issues in policy evaluations. We develop an indicator which accounts for the dynamic performance of the observations and for the possib...

Internationalisation is a major trend in higher education worldwide. Yet, little evidence is given on the net impact of international students on national economies. This study addresses this gap by estimating the benefits against the costs driven by international students in Belgium and its Flemish region in particular. Using a unique combination...

Behavioural economics has been argued to be a productive basis for decision support system (DSS) research. Whereas traditional economics assumes that individuals make decisions independently of others, behavioural economists have shown that humans tend to follow the crowd in their decisions (i.e., exhibit herding bias). However, the literature is s...

Targeted parental involvement is increasingly employed to activate parents to use their supporting role to enhance learning effects of students. Given the low cost, one popular measure is information provision to parents. However, the evidence on such measures remains limited. This study provides causal evidence on the effects of information provis...

Financial education is often considered to be a necessary condition in order to stimulate better consumer choices. We investigate this claim by analyzing the impact of a financial education course on consumer choices made by 688 students of the 8 th and 9 th grade. We combine a randomized controlled trial with a discrete choice experiment to analyz...

Internationalisation is a major trend in higher education worldwide. Yet, little evidence is given on the net impact of international students on national economies. This study addresses this gap by estimating the benefits against the costs driven by international students in Belgium and its Flemish region in particular. Using a unique combination...

This report provides an overview on the potential mechanisms that resulted in learning losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It also summarises the first empirical findings of studies using standardised test scores collected in June 2020 (after the first wave of school closures) and September 2020 (after a summer holiday break, and a first period of...

This paper provides a systematic literature review of studies investigating the effect of an intervention on the efficiency of a decision-making unit, when efficiency is computed using nonparametric frontier approaches. This paper offers a guide for future research by identifying patterns in (1) the fields of application, (2) applied efficiency mod...

This paper investigates the evidence on the effects of data use professional development interventions (PDIs) on teacher and student outcomes through a systematic literature review. More specifically, it focuses on the key features of data use PDIs, the practices of data use, and its effects on teacher and student outcomes. To that end, we propose...

Despite their popularity, machine learning predictions are sensitive to potential unobserved predictors. This paper proposes a general algorithm that assesses how the omission of an unobserved variable with high explanatory power could affect the predictions of the model. Moreover, the algorithm extends the usage of machine learning from pointwise...

This paper reviews the puzzles of insurance demand, and provides an overview of behavioural-based explanations on the concept of underinsurance. In particular, the study outlines the biases (among myopia, narrow framing and others) that help to explain the existence of those puzzles. The results indicate that biases do motivate the chances of under...

Ideological stance of politicians might play a role in the efficiency of service provision as well as in the global spending efficiency. This paper examines whether the shares of left-wing, populist, and extremist councillors on all regional councillors are associated with a higher or lower efficiency of education, healthcare, and infrastructure pr...

De internationalisering van het hoger onderwijs krijgt zowel vanuit academisch perspectief als vanuit het beleid toenemende aandacht. Het aantal studenten in het hoger onderwijs dat naar een ander land trekt met het doel om er te studeren groeit jaarlijks. De landen met de grootste instroom van internationale studenten zijn de Verenigde Staten, Fra...

Ondernemerschapsopleidingen bieden de mogelijkheid voor (jong)volwassenen om hun menselijk kapitaal uit te bouwen. In 2017 had 21% van de volwassenbevolking in de OESO landen tussen 25 en 64 jaar geen diploma van het secundair onderwijs (OESO, 2017). In België ligt dit aandeel nog hoger op 23%. Het belang van aanvullende opleidingen zal dan ook een...

De studentenuitval in het hoger onderwijs baart menigeen zorgen. Op basis van recent onderzoek in Vlaanderen en Nederland reiken we drie oplossingen aan. Wat gebeurt er bijvoorbeeld als je een 'milde toelatingsproef' invoert?

Deze studie vergelijkt de schooluitkomsten in het basis-en secundair onderwijs van kinderen met homoseksuele ouders met de schooluitkomsten van kinderen met heteroseksuele ouders. Eerder onderzoek naar schoolresultaten van kinderen met homoseksuele ouders is gebaseerd op kleine steekproeven. Het kon niet bepalen of kinderen zijn opgegroeid met homo...

In 2019 startte de KULeuven (HIVA – Onderzoeksinstituut voor Arbeid en Samenleving en Faculteit Economie en Bedrijfswetenschappen), in opdracht van het Departement WVG, een wetenschappelijk onderzoek naar de financiële geletterdheidscompetenties van mensen in armoede. Het doel van het onderzoek is om een beter zicht te krijgen op de financiële laag...

This paper proposes an innovative approach to evaluate the causal impact of a policy change in a multi-input multi-output setting. It combines insights from econometric impact evaluation techniques and efficiency analysis. In particular, the current paper accounts for endogeneity issues by introducing a quasi-experimental setting within a condition...

Although the local provision of public goods accommodates better to the heterogeneous local preferences and mitigates the fiscal illusion problem, it comes at the cost of potential diseconomies of scale. This paper examines the relationship between municipal size and local service level provision by applying state-of-the-art non-parametric techniqu...

In this chapter we provide a comparative overview of the level of financial literacy of pupils and teachers across five European countries (Belgium, Estonia, Italy, Slovakia, and the Netherlands). This comparative study follows from the European KA2 strategic partnership ‘EUFin’. The partnership, explained in more detail in the introduction of this...

In a world where individuals become increasingly responsible for their financial well-being, and where the complexity of financial markets and products is growing, financial education becomes crucial. Although it is well accepted to introduce financial education in compulsory education, there is no consensus on the optimal way to implement financia...

Anno 2019, financial literacy education receives significant attention in the Flemish region of Belgium. 2 Both in primary education and in secondary education, the curricula mentions financial education aspects. This section reviews the financial literacy levels in Flanders, and the steps which have been taken to introduce financial literacy in th...

This paper examines the effect of national culture on adult financial literacy levels in 12 countries. Contrary to earlier financial literacy studies, our results are directly comparable across countries given that we use the standardized OECD/INFE financial literacy survey data and Hofstede's (2001) cultural dimensions to capture financial literac...

In efficiency studies, inputs and outputs are often noisy measures, especially when education data is used. This article complements the conditional efficiency model by correcting for bias within conditional draws, using the m out of n bootstrap procedure. With a unique panel dataset, we estimate managerial efficiency, which accounts for nondiscret...

This paper assesses the effect of need-based grants on the performance of university students in Italy. We performed a series of between-universities and within-universities propensity score matching analyses to evaluate the effect of grants on several student performance indicators, such as dropout rate, first year credits and efficiency of study....

With increasing decentralization of public activities to the municipalities, it has become imperative to deploy an enhanced service provision analysis at the local level. This paper suggests the innovative use of a composite indicator to measure the multidimensional aspects of the local public provision comprising of several commonly administered m...

As early school leaving has been shown to have a substantial impact on later life outcomes, it has received considerable attention in policy debates. However, national and regional differences in early school leaving are not necessarily due to differences in policymaking but might be the consequence of underlying differences in the economic and soc...