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Research ArticleArticles

Are Professors Worth It?

The Value-Added and Costs of Tutorial Instructors

Jan Feld, Nicolás Salamanca and Ulf Zölitz
Journal of Human Resources, July 2020, 55 (3) 836-863; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.55.3.0417-8752R2
Jan Feld
Jan Feld is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Economics and Finance of the Victoria University of Wellington. Nicolás Salamanca is a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research of The University of Melbourne. Ulf Zölitz is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics of the University of Zurich.
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Nicolás Salamanca
Jan Feld is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Economics and Finance of the Victoria University of Wellington. Nicolás Salamanca is a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research of The University of Melbourne. Ulf Zölitz is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics of the University of Zurich.
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Ulf Zölitz
Jan Feld is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Economics and Finance of the Victoria University of Wellington. Nicolás Salamanca is a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research of The University of Melbourne. Ulf Zölitz is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics of the University of Zurich.
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Abstract

A substantial share of university instruction happens in tutorial sessions—small group instruction given parallel to lectures. We study whether instructors with a higher academic rank teach tutorials more effectively in a setting where students are randomly assigned to tutorial groups. We find this to be largely not the case. Academic rank is unrelated to students’ current and future performance and only weakly positively related to students’ course evaluations. Building on these results, we discuss different staffing scenarios that show that universities can substantially reduce costs by increasingly relying on lower-ranked instructors for tutorial teaching.

JEL Classification
  • I21
  • I24
  • J24
  • Received April 2017.
  • Accepted October 2018.
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In this issue

Journal of Human Resources: 55 (3)
Journal of Human Resources
Vol. 55, Issue 3
1 Jul 2020
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Are Professors Worth It?
Jan Feld, Nicolás Salamanca, Ulf Zölitz
Journal of Human Resources Jul 2020, 55 (3) 836-863; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.55.3.0417-8752R2

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Are Professors Worth It?
Jan Feld, Nicolás Salamanca, Ulf Zölitz
Journal of Human Resources Jul 2020, 55 (3) 836-863; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.55.3.0417-8752R2
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • I. Introduction
    • II. Background and Data
    • III. Estimation of Instructor Value-Added
    • IV. Academic Rank and Instructor Value-Added
    • V. Savings Potential under Various Tutorial Staffing Scenarios
    • VI. Conclusion
    • Footnotes
    • References
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Keywords

  • I21
  • I24
  • J24
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