Studying Absenteeism in Principles of Macroeconomics: Do Attendance Policies Make a Difference?

Abstract

The primary objective of this article is to see if and how attendance policy influences class attendance in undergraduate-level principles of macroeconomics classes. The second objective, which is related to the first, is to examine whether the nature of the attendance policy matters in terms of its impact on class attendance behavior. The results provide strong support that having an explicit attendance policy reduces absenteeism. The results relating to the nature of the attendance policy point to the greater effectiveness of a policy that punishes students for missing class rather than one that rewards students for good attendance.

Keywords:

• absenteeism
• negative attendance policy
• positive attendance policy

Keywords:

• JEL codes
• A20
• A22

Notes

1. Classes meet twice a week in spring and three times a week in fall.

2. It is possible that the teacher's teaching style might have varied from year to year or from the morning to the afternoon, but this variation is assumed to be much smaller than the heterogeneity that would be introduced in teaching quality if the sample included classes being taught by different professors.

3. A week implies two days in spring semester and three days in fall.