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Returns to Education: Evidence from UK Twins

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Author Info
Bonjour, Dorothe
Cherkas, Lynn
Haskel, Jonathan
Spector, Tim

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Abstract

We use a new sample of UK female identical twins to estimate private economic returns to education. We report findings in three areas. First, we use identical twins, to control for family effects and genetic ability bias, and the education reported by the other twin to control for schooling measurement error. Our estimates suggest a return to schooling for UK females of about 7.7%. Second, we investigate within-twin pair ability differences by examining within-twin pair and between-family correlations of education with observable correlates of ability (including birthweight, ability tests and reading scores). Our findings suggest lower ability bias in within-twin pair regressions than pooled regressions. Third, using data on twins smoking we show smoking reflects family background and using it as an instrument exacerbates ability bias.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 3354.

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Date of creation: Apr 2002
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3354

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Related research
Keywords: ability bias measurement error returns to education smoking twins

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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  1. Lorraine Dearden & Barbara Sianesi, 2001. "Estimating the Returns to Education: Models, Methods and Results," CEE Discussion Papers 0016, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  2. Angrist, Joshua D & Krueger, Alan B, 1991. "Does Compulsory School Attendance Affect Schooling and Earnings?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 106(4), pages 979-1014, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Orley Ashenfelter & Cecilia Rouse, 1998. "Income, Schooling, And Ability: Evidence From A New Sample Of Identical Twins," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(1), pages 253-284, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Lorraine Dearden, 1999. "Qualifications and earnings in Britain: how reliable are conventional OLS estimates of the returns to education?," IFS Working Papers W99/07, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
  5. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 1999. "The Art of Labormetrics," NBER Working Papers 6927, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Farrell, Phillip & Fuchs, Victor R. & Fuchs, Victor R., 1982. "Schooling and health : The cigarette connection," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 217-230, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Neumark, David, 1999. "Biases in twin estimates of the return to schooling," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 143-148, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. William N. Evans & Edward Montgomery, 1994. "Education and Health: Where There's Smoke There's an Instrument," NBER Working Papers 4949, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Behrman, Jere R. & Rosenzweig, Mark R., 1999. ""Ability" biases in schooling returns and twins: a test and new estimates," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 159-167, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Card, David, 1999. "The causal effect of education on earnings," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 30, pages 1801-1863 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Harmon, Colm & Walker, Ian, 1995. "Estimates of the Economic Return to Schooling for the United Kingdom," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1278-86, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Bound, John & Solon, Gary, 1999. "Double trouble: on the value of twins-based estimation of the return to schooling," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 169-182, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Rouse, Cecilia Elena, 1999. "Further estimates of the economic return to schooling from a new sample of twins," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 149-157, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Miller, Paul W & Mulvey, Charles & Martin, Nick, 1995. "What Do Twins Studies Reveal about the Economic Returns to Education? A Comparison of Australian and U.S. Findings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 586-99, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Griliches, Zvi, 1979. "Sibling Models and Data in Economics: Beginnings of a Survey," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages S37-64, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. David Card, 1993. "Using Geographic Variation in College Proximity to Estimate the Return to Schooling," NBER Working Papers 4483, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Orley Ashenfelter & David J. Zimmerman, 1997. "Estimates Of The Returns To Schooling From Sibling Data: Fathers, Sons, And Brothers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(1), pages 1-9, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Al-Samarrai, Samer & Reilly, Barry, 2006. "Education, Employment and Earnings of Secondary School and University Leavers in Tanzania: Evidence from a Tracer Study," MPRA Paper 129, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Justin van der Sluis & Mirjam van Praag & Arjen van Witteloostuijn, 2004. "Comparing the Returns to Education for Entrepreneurs and Employees," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 04-104/3, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
  3. Paul Bingley & Kaare Christensen & Ian Walker, 2007. "The Returns to Observable and Unobservable Skills over time: Evidence from a Panel of the Population of Danish Twins," Working Papers 200723, Geary Institute, University College Dublin. [Downloadable!]
  4. Ming-Jen Lin & Jin-Tan Liu & Shin-Yi Chou, 2007. "As Low Birth Weight Babies Grow, Can 'Good' Parents Buffer this Adverse Factor? A Research Note," NBER Working Papers 12857, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Hongbin Li & Pak Wai Liu & Ning Ma & Junsen Zhang, 2005. "Does Education Pay in Urban China? Estimating Returns to Education Using Twins," Discussion Papers 00013, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  6. Alexander Muravyev, 2007. "Firm Size, Wages and Unobserved Skills : Evidence from Dual Job Holdings in the UK," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 681, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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