IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iae/iaewps/wp2011n04.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Sheepskin Effects in the Returns to Education: Accounting for Enrolment and Completion Effects

Author

Listed:
  • Nicolas Hérault

    (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne)

  • Rezida Zakirova

    (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne)

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature by separately analysing the signalling (or sheepskin) effects of the enrolment in and the completion of vocational education and training as well as higher education. Moreover, we investigate the persistence of these sheepskin effects over time. We take advantage of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth, which contains comprehensive information about completed and uncompleted courses and subsequent labour market outcomes. We find that signalling effects form a substantial part of the total return to education but that they vary by type of course. In addition, we show that both course attendance and course completion contribute to the overall signalling effects.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2011n04
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/downloads/working_paper_series/wp2011n04.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James J. Heckman, 1976. "The Common Structure of Statistical Models of Truncation, Sample Selection and Limited Dependent Variables and a Simple Estimator for Such Models," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 5, number 4, pages 475-492, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Paul Contoyannis & Andrew M. Jones & Nigel Rice, 2004. "The dynamics of health in the British Household Panel Survey," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(4), pages 473-503.
    3. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1992. "Does School Quality Matter? Returns to Education and the Characteristics of Public Schools in the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(1), pages 1-40, February.
    4. Grubb, W. Norton, 1993. "Further tests of screening on education and observed ability," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 125-136, June.
    5. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1975. "The Theory of "Screening," Education, and the Distribution of Income," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 65(3), pages 283-300, June.
    6. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & David C. Ribar, 2009. "Financial Stress, Family Conflict, and Youths’ Successful Transition to Adult Roles," CEPR Discussion Papers 627, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    7. Riley, John G, 1979. "Testing the Educational Screening Hypothesis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages 227-252, October.
    8. John Gibson, 2000. "Sheepskin effects and the returns to education in New Zealand: Do they differ by ethnic groups?," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 201-220.
    9. Heckman, James & Layne-Farrar, Anne & Todd, Petra, 1996. "Human Capital Pricing Equations with an Application to Estimating the Effect of Schooling Quality on Earnings," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(4), pages 562-610, November.
    10. Hungerford, Thomas & Solon, Gary, 1987. "Sheepskin Effects in the Returns to Education," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(1), pages 175-177, February.
    11. Aashish Mehta & Hector Villarreal, 2008. "Why do diplomas pay? An expanded Mincerian framework applied to Mexico," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(24), pages 3127-3144.
    12. Park, Jin Heum, 1999. "Estimation of sheepskin effects using the old and the new measures of educational attainment in the Current Population Survey," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 237-240, February.
    13. Arkes, Jeremy, 1999. "What Do Educational Credentials Signal and Why Do Employers Value Credentials?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 133-141, February.
    14. Layard, Richard & Psacharopoulos, George, 1974. "The Screening Hypothesis and the Returns to Education," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(5), pages 985-998, Sept./Oct.
    15. Riley, John G, 1976. "Information, Screening and Human Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(2), pages 254-260, May.
    16. Francis Vella & Tom Karmel, 1999. "Evaluating the Impact of Educational Expansion on the Occupational Status of Youth," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 310-327, September.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Arrow, Kenneth J., 1973. "Higher education as a filter," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 193-216, July.
    20. Vella, Francis & Karmel, Tom, 1999. "Evaluating the Impact of Educational Expansion on the Occupational Status of Youth," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 310-327, September.
    21. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    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. Béatrice le Rhun & Olivier Monso, 2015. "De l'utilité d'obtenir son diplôme pour s'insérer : l'exemple des brevets de technicien supérieur," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 478(1), pages 35-56.

    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. Nicolas H�rault & Rezida Zakirova, 2015. "Returns to education: accounting for enrolment and completion effects," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 84-100, February.
    2. 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.
    3. Jhon James Mora, 2003. "Sheepskin effects and screening in Colombia," Colombian Economic Journal, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, April.
      • Jhon James Mora, 2003. "Sheepskin effects and screening in Colombia," Colombian Economic Journal, Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Economicas, Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Universidad de Antioquia, Universidad de los Andes, Universidad del Valle, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, vol. 1(1), pages 95-108, December.
    4. Bauer, Thomas K. & Dross, Patrick J. & de New, John, 2002. "Sheepskin Effects in Japan," IZA Discussion Papers 593, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. 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).
    6. Olfindo, Rosechin, 2018. "Diploma as signal? Estimating sheepskin effects in the Philippines," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 113-119.
    7. Nick Huntington-Klein, 2021. "Human capital versus signaling is empirically unresolvable," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(5), pages 2499-2531, May.
    8. Feng, Andy & Graetz, Georg, 2017. "A question of degree: The effects of degree class on labor market outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 140-161.
    9. repec:zbw:rwidps:0005 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Habermalz, Steffen, 2003. "Job Matching and the Returns to Educational Signals," IZA Discussion Papers 726, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Kun Andras Istvan, 2014. "The Sheepskin Effect In The Hungarian Labour Market 2010-2012: Analysis Of Data From The Hungarian Graduate Tracking System," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 492-499, July.
    12. NAKABAYASHI, Masaki, 2011. "Acquired Skills and Learned Abilities: Wage Dynamics of Blue-collar Workers in Internal Labor Markets," ISS Discussion Paper Series (series F) f153, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo, revised Apr 2012.
    13. Thomas Bauer & John P. Haisken-DeNew & Patrick J. Dross, 2003. "Sheepskin Effects in Japan," RWI Discussion Papers 0005, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
    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. Luisa Rosti & Chikara Yamaguchi & Carolina Castagnetti, 2005. "Educational Performance as Signalling Device: Evidence from Italy," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 9(4), pages 1-7.
    16. Mora Rodríguez, Jhon James & Muro, Juan, 2015. "On the size of sheepskin effects: A meta-analysis," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 9, pages 1-18.
    17. Steffen Habermalz, 2006. "More Detail on the Pattern of Returns to Educational Signals," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(1), pages 125-135, July.
    18. Jean-Louis ARCAND & Béatrice D'HOMBRES & Cl. PONDE AVENA, 2002. "Sheepskin Effects in the Returns to Education by Ethnic Group: Evidence from Northeastern Brazil," Working Papers 200226, CERDI.
    19. Soumyanetra Munshi, 2014. "'Arranged' Marriage, Education, and Dowry: A Contract-Theoretic Perspective," Working Papers id:5696, eSocialSciences.
    20. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:9:y:2005:i:4:p:1-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Aashish Mehta & Hector Villarreal, 2008. "Why do diplomas pay? An expanded Mincerian framework applied to Mexico," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(24), pages 3127-3144.
    22. Alfonso Flores-Lagunes & Audrey Light, "undated". "Interpreting Sheepskin Effects in the Returns to Education," Working Papers 22, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Education Research Section..

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Return to education; signalling effects; post-secondary education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iae:iaewps:wp2011n04. 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: Sheri Carnegie (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mimelau.html .

    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.