Academic achievement in sciences: the role of preferences and educative assets

This paper provides new evidence on the effect of pupil´s self-motivation andacademic assets allocation on the academic achievement in sciences acrosscountries. By using the Programme for International Student Assessment 2006 (PISA2006) test we find that both explanatory variables have a positive effect onstudent´s performance. Self-motivation is measured through an instrumentthat allows us to avoid possible endogeneity problems. Quantile regression isused for analyzing the existence of different estimated coefficients over thedistribution. It is found that both variables have different effect on academicperformance depending on the pupil´s score. These findings support theimportance of designing focalized programs for different populations,especially in terms of access to information and communication technologiessuch as internet.