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Cash-on-Hand & College Enrollment: Evidence from Population Tax Data and Policy Nonlinearities

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  • Dayanand S. Manoli
  • Nicholas Turner

Abstract

We estimate causal effects of cash-on-hand on college enrollment decisions of students from low-income families. Using population-level, administrative data from United States income tax returns, we exploit variation in tax refunds received in the spring of the high school senior year. The variation in tax refunds results from the kink point between the phase-in and maximum credit portions of the Earned Income Tax Credit schedule. The results suggest tax refunds received in the spring of the high school senior year have meaningful effects on college enrollment.

Suggested Citation

  • Dayanand S. Manoli & Nicholas Turner, 2014. "Cash-on-Hand & College Enrollment: Evidence from Population Tax Data and Policy Nonlinearities," NBER Working Papers 19836, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19836
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    Cited by:

    1. Weber, Andrea & Manoli, Dayanand, 2016. "The Effects of the Early Retirement Age on Retirement Decisions," CEPR Discussion Papers 11491, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Hoynes, Hilary & Rothstein, Jesse, 2016. "Tax Policy Toward Low-Income Families," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt87d6v10j, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    3. Kerwin Kofi Charles & Erik Hurst & Matthew J. Notowidigdo, 2018. "Housing Booms and Busts, Labor Market Opportunities, and College Attendance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(10), pages 2947-2994, October.
    4. Can Cui, 2017. "Cash-on-hand and demand for credit," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 1007-1039, May.
    5. Shirley Peter, 2020. "First-time mothers and the labor market effects of the earned income tax credit," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-53, March.
    6. Sachs, Dominik & Findeisen, Sebastian, 2014. "Designing Efficient Education and Tax Policies," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100504, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Dayanand S. Manoli & Nicholas Turner, 2014. "Nudges and Learning: Evidence from Informational Interventions for Low-Income Taxpayers," NBER Working Papers 20718, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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