Patience and the North-South divide in student achievement in Italy and the US

Author/s
Eric A. Hanushek
Lavinia Kinne
Pietro Sancassani
Ludger Woessmann
Published Date
May 2024
Publication
EconPol Forum
Details
25(3)
Pages
53-56

Students’ academic achievement varies widely and persistently across regions in many countries. For example, in both Italy and the United States, eighth grade math achievement differs between the top- and bottom-performing region/state by the equivalent of over two years of learning – roughly two-thirds of the achievement difference between top- and bottom-
performing OECD countries. Such regional skill differences are very important for regional income differences (Hanushek et al. 2017).