Skip to main content
Article
Match Quality, Worker Productivity, and Worker Mobility: Direct Evidence From Teachers
Review of Economics and Statistics (2013)
  • C. Kirabo Jackson, Northwestern University
Abstract
I investigate the importance of the match between teachers and schools for student achievement. I show that teacher effectiveness increases after a move to a different school, and I estimate teacher-school match effects using a mixed-effects estimator. Match quality "explains away" a quarter of, and has two-thirds the explanatory power of teacher quality. Match quality is negatively correlated with turnover, unrelated with exit, and increases with experience. This paper provides the first estimates of worker-firm match quality using output data as opposed to inferring productivity from wages or employment durations. Because teacher wages are essentially unrelated to productivity, this is compelling evidence that workers may seek high-quality matches for reasons other than higher pay.
Keywords
  • match quality,
  • worker mobility,
  • worker productivity,
  • education,
  • teacher quality,
  • school quality
Publication Date
October, 2013
Citation Information
Jackson, C. Kirabo. "Match Quality, Worker Productivity, and Worker Mobility: Direct Evidence From Teachers." Review of Economics and Statistics. Volume 95 (October 2013), 1096-1116.