Student Performance in Intermediate Economic Theory : Does 'Diligence' Matter

We employ a production function approach to analyze the performance of our intermediate theory students. The dependent variables are measures of examination performance. The explanatory variables include measures of intellectual ability and performance in prerequisite courses and personal characteristics such as gender. Since we want to determine whether diligence has a statistically significant impact on examination performance, the explanatory variables include three measures of effort: the average grade on homework exercises completed, the share of homework exercises completed, and the number of unexcused absences. We find that all three have a statistically significant on test averages. The homework grade and share of homeworks completed have positive effects on test performance, while the number of unexcused absences has a negative effect. We also examine the impact of these variables on the written, problem, and multiple-choice subsections of the macroeconomics exams. Here the impact of our effort variables on student performance mixed