Economic Policy Group co-organizers, John Cochrane and Valerie Ramey, hosted a talk on “Test Score Gaps and Time Use.”
Presenter: Valerie Ramey, the Thomas Sowell Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution
Moderator: John Cochrane, the Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution
SUMMARY
The test score gaps between Asian American and White students are almost as large as the gaps between White students and Black or Hispanic students. Observers often point to culture as an explanation for the higher academic achievement of Asians. However, culture is not a direct input into the education production function, so testing this hypothesis requires linking culture to observed inputs into the education production function. This paper focuses on measuring time use of students and their parents as a possible channel through which differences in culture are translated into differences in academic achievement. I find that on average Asian American high school students spend ten or more hours per week studying than any other group. The difference is still substantial even after controlling for many other background characteristics. I also discuss possible methods for testing whether the correlation between test scores and time use is causal.
To read the slides, click here.
WATCH THE SEMINAR
Topic: Test Score Gaps and Time Use
Start Time: November 5, 2025, 12:15 PM PT
PARTICIPANTS
Valerie Ramey, John Cochrane, John Taylor, Joshua Aizenman, Annelise Anderson, Hoyt Bleakley, Valentin Bolotnyy, Michael Bordo, Michael Boskin, Oliver Bush, Pedro Carvalho, Daniel Chen, Robert Fluegge, Patrick Gaynor, Tyler Goodspeed, Siddarth Gundapaneni, George Hall, Eric Hanushek, Jonathan Hartley, Michael Hartney, Laurie Hodrick, Robert Hodrick, Sarah Iagudaeva, Suhani Jalota, Ken Judd, Chris Karbownik, Sophia Kazinnik, Evan Koenig, Marianna Kudlyak, David Laidler, Charles Leung, Mickey Levy, Jacob Light, Megan Liu, Ross McKerracher, David Papell, Minu Philip, Sophia Qin, Macke Raymond, Stephen Redding, Greg Rosston, Paola Sapienza, JR Scott, Richard Sousa, Leo Spaeder, Araha Uday
