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Estimating Marginal Returns to Higher Education in the UK

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  • Robert Moffitt

Abstract

A long-standing issue in the literature on education is whether marginal returns to education fall as education rises. If the population differs in its rate of return, a closely related question is whether marginal returns to higher education fall as a greater fraction of the population enrolls. This paper proposes a nonparametric method of estimating marginal treatment effects in heterogeneous populations, and applies it to this question, examining returns to higher education in the UK. The results indicate that marginal returns to higher education fall as the proportion of the population with higher education rises, consistent with the Becker Woytinsky Lecture hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Moffitt, 2007. "Estimating Marginal Returns to Higher Education in the UK," NBER Working Papers 13534, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13534
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    Cited by:

    1. Ireland, Norman & Naylor, Robin A. & Smith, Jeremy & Telhaj, Shqiponja, 2009. "Educational returns, ability composition and cohort effects: theory and evidence for cohorts of early-career UK graduates," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28608, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Robin Naylor & Jeremy Smith & Shqiponja Telhaj, 2016. "Graduate returns, degree class premia and higher education expansion in the UK," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 68(2), pages 525-545.
    3. Hatidza Jahic & Amila Pilav-Velic, 2021. "Measuring returns on investment in education: lessons for sustainable and innovative education policy," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 19(2), pages 189-209.
    4. Martina Mysíková & Jiří Večerník, 2019. "Returns to Tertiary Education in Western and Eastern Europe," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2019(1), pages 30-48.
    5. repec:prg:jnlpep:v:preprint:id:686:p:1-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Purvi Sevak & Lucie Schmidt, 2007. "How do Immigrants Fare in Retirement?," Working Papers wp169, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    7. Stefan Boes, 2011. "On the causal effect of schooling on smoking: evidence without exogeneity conditions," Diskussionsschriften dp1102, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft.
    8. Massimiliano BRATTI & Robin NAYLOR & Jeremy SMITH, 2008. "Heterogeneities in the returns to degrees: evidence from the British cohort study 1970," Departmental Working Papers 2008-40, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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