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Students’ Assessment of Higher Education in Spain

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  • César Alonso-Borrego
  • Antonio Romero-Medina

Abstract

We explore evidence on the perceived economic value of higher education to college students in terms of their reported expected and shadow wages. Our estimates provide predictions for expected wages that are similar across gender and become closer to actual wages as students approach graduation. This is consistent with an improvement in the quality of student information used to forecast wages. Shadow wages relative to expected wages increase during the academic year for men and are constant for women, which is consistent with the higher reluctance of women to drop out of university. Finally, students with lower socioeconomic background and poor performance exhibit a higher propensity to drop out.

Suggested Citation

  • César Alonso-Borrego & Antonio Romero-Medina, 2008. "Students’ Assessment of Higher Education in Spain," Working Papers 2008-31, FEDEA.
  • Handle: RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2008-31
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    Cited by:

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    2. Jones, Sam & Santos, Ricardo, 2022. "Can information correct optimistic wage expectations? Evidence from Mozambican job-seekers," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    3. Sam Jones & Ricardo Santos & Gimelgo Xirinda, 2020. "Misinformed, mismatched, or misled?: Explaining the gap between expected and realized graduate earnings in Mozambique," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-47, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Carlos Gradín & Félix Mambo & Yonesse Paris & Ricardo Santos, 2020. "Unequal expectations: Gender inequality in salary expectations of university students," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-78, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Claire Bonnard & Jean-François Giret & Marielle Lambert-Le Mener, 2013. "Les étudiants anticipent-ils correctement la valeur de leur diplôme sur le marché du travail ?," Post-Print halshs-00815912, HAL.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • 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
    • C24 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Truncated and Censored Models; Switching Regression Models; Threshold Regression Models
    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities

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