IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/edecon/v9y2001i3p281-292.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Racial and Gender Differences in the Returns to 2-Year and 4-Year Degrees

Author

Listed:
  • Susan Averett
  • Sharon Dalessandro

Abstract

Using data from the 1993 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this paper documents differences in the rate of return to 2-year and 4-year degrees across race and gender. We find for each race and gender group that a baccalaureate degree is more valuable than an associate's degree, and the return to an associate's degree is greater than attending some college, which is in turn more valuable than simply finishing high school. Our results indicate that these effects are statistically different for black and white men. Finally, according to our research, one avenue of low-cost education for women and black men is to attend a 2-year school and then finish the degree at a 4-year institution.

Suggested Citation

  • Susan Averett & Sharon Dalessandro, 2001. "Racial and Gender Differences in the Returns to 2-Year and 4-Year Degrees," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(3), pages 281-292.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:9:y:2001:i:3:p:281-292
    DOI: 10.1080/09645290110086144
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09645290110086144
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09645290110086144?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Duane E. Leigh & Andrew M. Gill, 1997. "Labor Market Returns to Community Colleges: Evidence for Returning Adults," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(2), pages 334-353.
    2. Adger B. Carroll & Loren A. Ihnen, 1967. "Costs and Returns for Two Years of Postsecondary Technical Schooling: A Pilot Study," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75, pages 862-862.
    3. Kane, Thomas J & Rouse, Cecilia Elena, 1995. "Labor-Market Returns to Two- and Four-Year College," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 600-614, June.
    4. Randall K. Filer, 1993. "The Usefulness of Predicted Values for Prior Work Experience in Analyzing Labor Market Outcomes for Women," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 28(3), pages 519-537.
    5. Monk-Turner, Elizabeth, 1994. "Economic returns to community and four-year college education," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 441-447.
    6. Rouse, Cecilia Elena, 1995. "Democratization or Diversion? The Effect of Community Colleges on Educational Attainment," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(2), pages 217-224, April.
    7. Javed Ashraf, 1994. "Differences in Returns to Education: An Analysis by Race," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 281-290, July.
    8. Belman, Dale & Heywood, John S, 1991. "Sheepskin Effects in the Returns to Education: An Examination on Women and Minorities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(4), pages 720-724, November.
    9. Jaeger, David A & Page, Marianne E, 1996. "Degrees Matter: New Evidence on Sheepskin Effects in the Returns to Education," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(4), pages 733-740, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Heckman, James J. & Loughlin, Colleen P., 2021. "Athletes Greatly Benefit from Participation in Sports at the College and Secondary Level," IZA Discussion Papers 14584, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Budig, Michelle J. & Lim, Misun & Hodges, Melissa J., 2021. "Racial and gender pay disparities: The role of education," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 98, pages 1-1.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Darwin Miller, 2007. "Isolating the Causal Impact of Community College Enrollment on Educational Attainment and Labor Market Outcomes in Texas," Discussion Papers 06-033, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    2. Ehrenberg, R.G.Ronald G., 2004. "Econometric studies of higher education," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 19-37.
    3. Alfonso Flores-Lagunes & Audrey Light, 2010. "Interpreting Degree Effects in the Returns to Education," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(2).
    4. Ehrenberg, Ronald G. & Smith, Christopher L., 2004. "Analyzing the success of student transitions from 2- to 4-year institutions within a state," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 11-28, February.
    5. Cellini, Stephanie Riegg & Chaudhary, Latika, 2014. "The labor market returns to a for-profit college education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 125-140.
    6. Surette, Brian J., 2001. "Transfer from two-year to four-year college: an analysis of gender differences," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 151-163, April.
    7. Lockwood Reynolds, C., 2012. "Where to attend? Estimating the effects of beginning college at a two-year institution," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 345-362.
    8. Ross Gittell & Jon D. Samuels & Edinaldo Tebaldi, 2017. "The Contribution of Associate's Degree Holders to U.S. Earnings, Labor Quality, Productivity, and Overall Economic Growth," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(2), pages 600-636, October.
    9. Grubb, W. Norton, 2002. "Learning and earning in the middle, part I: national studies of pre-baccalaureate education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 299-321, August.
    10. Andrew M. Gill & Duane E. Leigh, 2003. "Do the Returns to Community Colleges Differ between Academic and Vocational Programs?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(1).
    11. Michelle Sheran Sylvester, 2007. "The Career and Family Choices of Women: A Dynamic Analysis of Labor Force Participation, Schooling, Marriage and Fertility Decisions," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 10(3), pages 367-399, July.
    12. Nakabayashi, Masaki, 2011. "Schooling, employer learning, and internal labor market effect: Wage dynamics and human capital investment in the Japanese steel industry, 1930-1960s," MPRA Paper 30597, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Fatma El-Hamidi, 2006. "General or Vocational Schooling? Evidence on School Choice, Returns, and 'Sheepskin' Effects from Egypt 1998," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 157-176.
    14. Melissa Clark & David Jaeger, 2006. "Natives, the foreign-born and high school equivalents: new evidence on the returns to the GED," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 19(4), pages 769-793, October.
    15. Ana Ferrer & W. Craig Riddell, 2008. "Education, credentials, and immigrant earnings," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 186-216, February.
    16. Stenberg, Anders & Westerlund, Olle, 2016. "Flexibility at a cost – Should governments stimulate tertiary education for adults?," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 69-86.
    17. Mona Said & Fatma El-Hamidi, 2008. "Taking Technical Education Seriously in MENA: Determinants, Labor Market Implications and Policy Lessons," Working Papers 450, Economic Research Forum, revised 09 Jan 2008.
    18. Nicolas Hérault & Rezida Zakirova, 2011. "Sheepskin Effects in the Returns to Education: Accounting for Enrolment and Completion Effects," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2011n04, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    19. Welch, Jilleah G., 2014. "HOPE for community college students: The impact of merit aid on persistence, graduation, and earnings," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-20.
    20. Anna Crespo & Maurício Cortez, 2005. "The Sheepskin Effects Evolution From 1982 To 2002 In Brazil: The Roles Of Labor Supply And Demand Changes," Anais do XXXIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 33rd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 167, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:9:y:2001:i:3:p:281-292. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CEDE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.