IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/socinc/v7y2019i3p154-176.html

The Signal and the Noise: The Impact of the Bologna Process on Swiss Graduates’ Monetary Returns to Higher Education

Author

Listed:
  • David Glauser

    (Department of Sociology of Education, University of Bern, Switzerland)

  • Christoph Zangger

    (Institute of Sociology, University of Zurich, Switzerland)

  • Rolf Becker

    (Department of Sociology of Education, University of Bern, Switzerland)

Abstract

Using longitudinal data on university leaver cohorts in the period from 2006 to 2016, we investigate the impact of the Bologna reform on Swiss graduates’ returns to higher education. Drawing on the job market signaling model, we expect lower returns for graduates who enter the labor market with a bachelor’s degree. Moreover, we expect that the initial wage difference between bachelor and master graduates will become less volatile over time, since employers constantly update their beliefs about graduates’ employability. Controlling for selection into employment and a number of different signals sent by the graduates, we find a persistent advantage of a master’s over a bachelor’s degree. The new degrees, and especially a bachelor’s degree, did indeed serve as a noisy signal about graduates’ productivity in the first years of the Bologna process.

Suggested Citation

  • David Glauser & Christoph Zangger & Rolf Becker, 2019. "The Signal and the Noise: The Impact of the Bologna Process on Swiss Graduates’ Monetary Returns to Higher Education," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(3), pages 154-176.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v7:y:2019:i:3:p:154-176
    DOI: 10.17645/si.v7i3.2100
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/2100
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/si.v7i3.2100?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James Heckman, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    2. Pedro Carneiro & James J. Heckman & Edward J. Vytlacil, 2011. "Estimating Marginal Returns to Education," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2754-2781, October.
    3. David J. Deming & Noam Yuchtman & Amira Abulafi & Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz, 2016. "The Value of Postsecondary Credentials in the Labor Market: An Experimental Study," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(3), pages 778-806, March.
    4. Joseph G. Altonji & Charles R. Pierret, 2001. "Employer Learning and Statistical Discrimination," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(1), pages 313-350.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Irene Kriesi & Juerg Schweri, 2019. "Types of Education, Achievement and Labour Market Integration over the Life Course," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(3), pages 58-64.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Glauser & Christoph Zangger & Rolf Becker, 2019. "The Signal and the Noise: The Impact of the Bologna Process on Swiss Graduates’ Monetary Returns to Higher Education," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(3), pages 154-176.
    2. Töpfer, Marina, 2017. "Detailed RIF decomposition with selection: The gender pay gap in Italy," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 26-2017, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    3. Marina Bassi & Matías Busso & Sergio Urzúa & Jaime Vargas, 2012. "Disconnected: Skills, Education, and Employment in Latin America," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 79504, February.
    4. Yasser Razak Hussain & Pranab Mukhopadhyay, 2023. "How Much do Education, Experience, and Social Networks Impact Earnings in India? A Panel Data Analysis Disaggregated by Class, Gender, Caste and Religion," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    5. Sokbae Lee & Bernard Salanié, 2018. "Identifying Effects of Multivalued Treatments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(6), pages 1939-1963, November.
    6. Luis Fernando Gamboa & Paul AndrÔøΩs RodrÔøΩguez, 2014. "Do Colombian students underestimate higher education returns?," Documentos de Trabajo 12050, Universidad del Rosario.
    7. Piopiunik, Marc & Schwerdt, Guido & Simon, Lisa & Woessmann, Ludger, 2020. "Skills, signals, and employability: An experimental investigation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    8. Zhu, Zhengren, 2023. "Discrimination against community college transfer students — Evidence from a labor market audit study," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    9. Shuxi Zeng & Fan Li & Peng Ding, 2020. "Is being an only child harmful to psychological health?: evidence from an instrumental variable analysis of China's one‐child policy," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 183(4), pages 1615-1635, October.
    10. Steven F. Koch & S. Ssekabira Ntege, 2008. "Returns To Schooling: Skills Accumulation Or Information Revelation?," Working Papers 200812, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    11. Busso, Matías & Montaño, Sebastián & Muñoz-Morales, Juan S., 2023. "Signaling Specific Skills and the Labor Market of College Graduates," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12720, Inter-American Development Bank.
    12. Schwerdt, Guido & Woessmann, Ludger, 2017. "The information value of central school exams," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 65-79.
    13. Töpfer, Marina, 2017. "Detailed RIF Decomposition with Selection - The Gender Pay Gap in Italy," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168422, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    14. Krumme, Anna & Westphal, Matthias, 2024. "Monetary returns to upper secondary schooling, the evolution of unobserved heterogeneity, and implications for employer learning," Ruhr Economic Papers 1130, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    15. Jack Mountjoy & Brent Hickman, 2020. "The Returns to College(s): Estimating Value-Added and Match Effects in Higher Education," Working Papers 2020-08, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    16. Mogstad, Magne & Torgovitsky, Alexander, 2024. "Instrumental variables with unobserved heterogeneity in treatment effects," Handbook of Labor Economics,, Elsevier.
    17. Kleibrink, Jan & Michaelsen, Maren M., 2012. "Reaching High: Occupational Sorting and Higher Education Wage Inequality in the UK," Ruhr Economic Papers 377, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    18. Matthias Westphal & Daniel A Kamhöfer & Hendrik Schmitz, 2022. "Marginal College Wage Premiums Under Selection Into Employment," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(646), pages 2231-2272.
    19. Daniel Kreisman & Jonathan Smith & Bondi Arifin, 2023. "Labor Market Signaling and the Value of College: Evidence from Resumes and the Truth," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(6), pages 1820-1849.
    20. Jeffrey Smith & Arthur Sweetman, 2016. "Viewpoint: Estimating the causal effects of policies and programs," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 49(3), pages 871-905, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v7:y:2019:i:3:p:154-176. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.