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Author: Nencka, Peter
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Light, Audrey L.
Nencka, Peter
Predicting Educational Attainment: Does Grit Compensate for low Levels of Cognitive Ability?
Learning and Individual Differences 70 (February 2019): 142-154.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608019300214
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Cognitive Ability; Educational Attainment; Modeling, Probit; Personality/Big Five Factor Model or Traits

This study examined the role of cognitive ability in moderating grit's association with educational outcomes. Using a large, representative sample of young adults, we estimated probit models for the probability of graduating from high school, enrolling in college, earning any college degree, and earning a bachelor's degree. For each outcome, the effect of grit (and, alternatively, each lower-order facet) was allowed to differ flexibly with cognitive ability. We found that grit's estimated marginal effect is largely concentrated among students at the high and low ends of the ability distribution. The low-ability effect is more pronounced when expressed relative to the ability-specific, baseline probability of success, and the high-ability effect increases with each successive outcome. The findings are consistent with the notion that high-ability students adopt self-regulated learning processes that exploit their grit, especially as educational tasks become more challenging. For low-ability students, it appears that grit plays a compensatory role.
Bibliography Citation
Light, Audrey L. and Peter Nencka. "Predicting Educational Attainment: Does Grit Compensate for low Levels of Cognitive Ability?" Learning and Individual Differences 70 (February 2019): 142-154.
2. Nencka, Peter
Three Essays in Labor and Public Economics
Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, The Ohio State University, 2020
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT)
Keyword(s): College Characteristics; Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); Geocoded Data; Skills

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In Chapter 2, we show that increases in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) during childhood affect college choices. Increased EITC is associated with raising the probability that youth attend four-year rather than two-year schools and higher-quality four-year schools. To understand this result, we explore two possible mechanisms. Increased EITC may augment skills developed before college entry. More pre-college skill matters because it makes attending high quality colleges more attainable and valuable. Increased tax credits may also relieve actual or perceived financial constraints associated with higher-quality colleges. We find evidence for both mechanisms, with effects on pre-college skills explaining most of the results. We also find that EITC responses are largest for youth with many local colleges. This suggests that additional geographic targeting of the EITC and similar transfer programs may improve welfare.
Bibliography Citation
Nencka, Peter. Three Essays in Labor and Public Economics. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, The Ohio State University, 2020.