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Variations in the Wage Returns to a First Degree: Evidence from the British Cohort Study 1970

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Author Info
Massimiliano Bratti () (University of Milan and IZA Bonn)
Robin Naylor (University of Warwick)
Jeremy Smith (University of Warwick)

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Abstract

As in many other countries, government policy in the UK has the objective of raising the participation rate of young people in higher education, while increasing the share of the costs of higher education paid by students themselves. A rationale for the latter element comes from evidence of a high private return to university undergraduate degrees. However, much of this evidence pre-dates the rapid expansion in the graduate population. In the current paper, we use evidence from a cohort of young people born in Britain in 1970 to update influential evidence on returns to a first degree based on a previous 1958 birth cohort. We also analyse variations in returns by degree subject and by class of degree. Our analysis incorporates proxying and matching, control function and propensity score matching methods. Among other results, we find (i) that the returns to a first degree for men changed very little across the two cohorts while the return for women declined substantially and (ii) evidence of differences in returns to a first degree according to subject area of study and class of degree awarded. Classification-JEL: J3, J4, I2

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1631.

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Length: 54 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2005
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1631

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Keywords: degree; return; subject; class; UK; university;

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  2. Lee, Lung-Fei, 1983. "Generalized Econometric Models with Selectivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(2), pages 507-12, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Arnaud Chevalier & Gauthier Lanot, 2002. "The Relative Effect of Family Characteristics and Financial Situation on Educational Achievement," Education Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 165-181, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning, 2003. "Lousy and Lovely Jobs: the Rising Polarization of Work in Britain," CEP Discussion Papers dp0604, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Arnaud Chevalier, 2004. "Parental Education and Childs Education: A Natural Experiment," CEE Discussion Papers 0040, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE. [Downloadable!]
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  12. O'Leary, Nigel C. & Sloane, Peter J., 2005. "The Changing Wage Return to an Undergraduate Education," IZA Discussion Papers 1549, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  13. Richard Blundell & Lorraine Dearden & Barbara Sianesi, 2003. "Evaluating the impact of education on earnings in the UK: Models, methods and results from the NCDS," IFS Working Papers W03/20, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Blundell, Richard, et al, 2000. "The Returns to Higher Education in Britain: Evidence from a British Cohort," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(461), pages F82-99, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Arnaud Chevalier & Colm Harmon & Ian Walker & Yu Zhu, 2004. "Does Education Raise Productivity, or Just Reflect it?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(499), pages F499-F517, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. 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)
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