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Educational Returns, ability composition and cohort effects : theory and evidence for cohorts of early-career UK graduates

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Author Info
Ireland, Norman (Department of Economics, University of Warwick)
Naylor, Robin A. (Department of Economics, University of Warwick)
Smith, Jeremy (Department of Economics, University of Warwick)
Telhaj, Shqiponja (CEP, London School of Economics)

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Abstract

An increase over time in the proportion of young people obtaining a degree is likely to impact on the relative ability compositions (i) of graduates and non-graduates and (ii) across graduates with different classes of degree award. In a signalling framework, we examine the implications of this on biases across cohorts in estimates of educational returns. In an empirical analysis, we exploit administrative data on whole populations of UK university students for ten graduate cohorts to investigate the extent to which early labour market outcomes vary with class of degree awarded. Consistent with our theoretical model, we find that returns by degree class increased across cohorts during a period of substantial graduate expansion. We also corroborate the empirical findings with evidence from complementary data on graduate sample surveys.

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Paper provided by University of Warwick, Department of Economics in its series The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) with number 906.

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Date of creation: 2009
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Handle: RePEc:wrk:warwec:906

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Related research
Keywords: Educational Returns ; College Wage Premium ; Degree Class ; Ability Bias ; Statistical Discrimination;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information

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    Other versions:
  2. Farber, Henry S & Gibbons, Robert, 1996. "Learning and Wage Dynamics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 111(4), pages 1007-47, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  4. Dolton, Peter J & Makepeace, G H, 1990. "The Earnings of Economics Graduates," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(399), pages 237-50, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. James Heckman & Edward Vytlacil, 2001. "Identifying The Role Of Cognitive Ability In Explaining The Level Of And Change In The Return To Schooling," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(1), pages 1-12, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Joseph G. Altonji & Charles R. Pierret, 2001. "Employer Learning And Statistical Discrimination," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 116(1), pages 313-350, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. David Greenaway & Michelle Haynes, 2003. "Funding Higher Education in The UK: The Role of Fees and Loans," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages F150-F166, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Richard Blundell & Lorraine Dearden & Barbara Sianesi, 2005. "Evaluating the effect of education on earnings: models, methods and results from the National Child Development Survey," Journal Of The Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 168(3), pages 473-512. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Heckman, James J. & Lochner, Lance J. & Todd, Petra E., 2006. "Earnings Functions, Rates of Return and Treatment Effects: The Mincer Equation and Beyond," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. 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)
  12. Blackburn, McKinley L & Neumark, David, 1995. "Are OLS Estimates of the Return to Schooling Biased Downward? Another Look," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 77(2), pages 217-30, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Taber, Christopher R, 2001. "The Rising College Premium in the Eighties: Return to College or Return to Unobserved Ability?," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 68(3), pages 665-91, July.
  14. Fabian Lange, 2007. "The Speed of Employer Learning," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25, pages 1-35. [Downloadable!]
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