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Social Class and Undergraduate Degree Subject in the UK

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Author Info
Massimiliano Bratti (DEAS, University of Milan)

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Abstract

Although past research has established the existence of strong social class effects on the decision to undertake higher education in the UK, there is only sparse empirical work investigating social class influences on the choice of degree subject at the undergraduate level. We estimate trinomial probit models of undergraduate degree subject enrolled for the period 1981-1991 using Universities' Statistical Record data and generally find no social class effect. This finding is robust to different ways to aggregate degree subjects and the use of alternative econometric models. Our analysis suggests that in a period pre-dating the mass expansion of higher education, the replacement of student grants with student loans and the introduction of undergraduate student tuition fees, the UK university system granted equal opportunities to students from different social classes in terms of the degree subject enrolled.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Universitá degli Studi di Milano in its series UNIMI - Research Papers in Economics, Business, and Statistics with number 1015.

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Date of creation: 24 Nov 2005
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Handle: RePEc:bep:unimip:1015

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Related research
Keywords: degree subject; social class; UK; undergraduate;

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  3. Rochat, Denis & Demeulemeester, Jean-Luc, 2001. "Rational choice under unequal constraints: the example of Belgian higher education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 15-26, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Brunello, Giorgio & Lucifora, Claudio & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2001. "The Wage Expectations of European College Students," CEPR Discussion Papers 2817, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Stephen V. Cameron & James J. Heckman, 1998. "Life Cycle Schooling and Dynamic Selection Bias: Models and Evidence for Five Cohorts of American Males," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(2), pages 262-333, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Weeks, Melvyn, 1997. " The Multinomial Probit Model Revisited: A Discussion of Parameter Estimability, Identification and Specification Testing," Journal of Economic Surveys, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 11(3), pages 297-320, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Montmarquette, Claude & Cannings, Kathy & Mahseredjian, Sophie, 2002. "How do young people choose college majors?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 543-556, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. J. Dominitz & C. F. Manski, . "Eliciting student expectations of the returns to schooling," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1049-94, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty. [Downloadable!]
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  21. Micklewright, John, 1989. "Choice at Sixteen," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 56(221), pages 25-39, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  25. Arnaud Chevalier & Gavan Conlon, 2003. "Does it pay to attend a prestigious university?," CEE Discussion Papers 0033, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE. [Downloadable!]
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  30. Rice, Patricia G, 1987. "The Demand for Post-compulsory Education in the UK and the Effects of Educational Maintenance Allowances," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 54(216), pages 465-75, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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