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Are There No Wage Returns to Compulsory Schooling in Germany? A Reassessment

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  • Cygan-Rehm, Kamila

    (Dresden University of Technology)

Abstract

This study replicates and challenges the finding of zero wage returns to compulsory schooling in Germany by Pischke and von Wachter (Review of Economics and Statistics, 90(3) 2008, 592-598), which is unusual in the literature yet widely cited and until now uncontradicted. I document that this finding is sensitive to minor changes in sample restrictions and model specification. Further results suggest that their estimates are potentially confounded by previously unconsidered institutional details. These findings render the conclusion that compulsory schooling in Germany yields no wage returns at a minimum controversial.

Suggested Citation

  • Cygan-Rehm, Kamila, 2021. "Are There No Wage Returns to Compulsory Schooling in Germany? A Reassessment," IZA Discussion Papers 14470, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14470
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2007. "The Impact of Length of the School Year on Student Performance and Earnings: Evidence From the German Short School Years," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(523), pages 1216-1242, October.
    2. Jörn-Steffen Pischke & Till von Wachter, 2008. "Zero Returns to Compulsory Schooling in Germany: Evidence and Interpretation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 592-598, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Dahmann, Sarah C. & Kamhöfer, Daniel A. & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah, 2021. "Sophistication about Self-Control," IZA Discussion Papers 14609, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Tatjana Begerow & Hendrik Jürges, 2022. "Does compulsory schooling affect health? Evidence from ambulatory claims data," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(6), pages 953-968, August.
    3. Benjamin W. Arold & Ludger Woessmann & Larissa Zierow, 2022. "Can Schools Change Religious Attitudes? Evidence from German State Reforms of Compulsory Religious Education," CESifo Working Paper Series 9504, CESifo.
    4. Valentin Schiele, 2022. "Labor market spillover effects of a compulsory schooling reform in Germany," Working Papers Dissertations 84, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    5. Clark, Damon, 2023. "School quality and the return to schooling in Britain: New evidence from a large-scale compulsory schooling reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    replication; Germany; wages; education; returns to schooling; reassessment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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