IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-18-01002.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Honours as a signal - evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in Italy Abstract: This note compares the wage premium of honours degrees in two different Italian university systems (old and new) in 2011 using data from the Italian National Institute of Statistics. The wage premium of a honours degree in the new system disappears due to honours inflation and hence the signal of potential higher productivity stopped working. In contrast, for graduates under the old system, the signal statistically significantly affects wages

Author

Listed:
  • Marina Töpfer

    (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg)

Abstract

No abstract is available for this item.

Suggested Citation

  • Marina Töpfer, 2019. "Honours as a signal - evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in Italy Abstract: This note compares the wage premium of honours degrees in two different Italian university systems (old and new) in 20," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(1), pages 1-7.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-18-01002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2019/Volume39/EB-19-V39-I1-P1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Freier, Ronny & Schumann, Mathias & Siedler, Thomas, 2015. "The earnings returns to graduating with honors — Evidence from law graduates," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 39-50.
    2. Hanming Fang, 2006. "Disentangling The College Wage Premium: Estimating A Model With Endogenous Education Choices," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1151-1185, November.
    3. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:9:y:2005:i:4:p:1-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. George Psacharopoulos & Harry Anthony Patrinos, 2018. "Returns to investment in education: a decennial review of the global literature," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(5), pages 445-458, September.
    5. Zheng, Yu, 2019. "The Role Of Education Signaling In Explaining The Growth Of The College Wage Premium," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(3), pages 1247-1286, April.
    6. Chevalier, Arnaud & Conlon, Gavan, 2003. "Does It Pay to Attend a Prestigious University?," IZA Discussion Papers 848, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Luisa Rosti & Chikara Yamaguchi & Carolina Castagnetti, 2005. "Educational Performance as Signalling Device: Evidence from Italy," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 9(4), pages 1-7.
    8. Pedro Carneiro & Sokbae Lee, 2011. "Trends in Quality-Adjusted Skill Premia in the United States, 1960-2000," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2309-2349, October.
    9. Dominic J. Brewer & Eric R. Eide & Ronald G. Ehrenberg, 1999. "Does It Pay to Attend an Elite Private College? Cross-Cohort Evidence on the Effects of College Type on Earnings," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 34(1), pages 104-123.
    10. Arrow, Kenneth J., 1973. "Higher education as a filter," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 193-216, July.
    11. Brown, Sarah & Sessions, John G., 1999. "Education and employment status: a test of the strong screening hypothesis in Italy," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 397-404, October.
    12. Damon Clark & Paco Martorell, 2014. "The Signaling Value of a High School Diploma," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 122(2), pages 282-318.
    13. Mark Hoekstra, 2009. "The Effect of Attending the Flagship State University on Earnings: A Discontinuity-Based Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(4), pages 717-724, November.
    14. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Nick Huntington-Klein, 2021. "Human capital versus signaling is empirically unresolvable," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(5), pages 2499-2531, May.
    2. Drydakis, Nick, 2016. "The effect of university attended on graduates’ labour market prospects: A field study of Great Britain," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 192-208.
    3. Eliasson, Kent, 2006. "The Role of Ability in Estimating the Returns to College Choice: New Swedish Evidence," Umeå Economic Studies 691, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    4. Piopiunik, Marc & Schwerdt, Guido & Simon, Lisa & Woessmann, Ludger, 2020. "Skills, signals, and employability: An experimental investigation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    5. Felipe Barrera-Osorio & Hernando Bayona Rodríguez, 2015. "El efecto causal de la asistencia a la universidad sobre la trayectoria educativa y el mercado laboral: Evidencia empírica para Colombia," Documentos CEDE 13549, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    6. Feng, Andy & Graetz, Georg, 2017. "A question of degree: The effects of degree class on labor market outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 140-161.
    7. SWATI Sharma, 2016. "Does Education Determine Employment: Peculiarities Of The Indian Labour Market," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 11(1), pages 164-180, April.
    8. David Carroll & Chris Heaton & Massimiliano Tani, 2019. "Does It Pay to Graduate from an 'Elite' University in Australia?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 95(310), pages 343-357, September.
    9. Stanislav Avdeev, 2020. "Zero Returns To Higher Education: Evidence From A Natural Experiment," HSE Working papers WP BRP 236/EC/2020, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    10. Birulin, Oleksii & Parfinenko, Nina & Smirnov, Vladimir & Wait, Andrew, 2019. "Signaling and the College Wage Premium," Working Papers 2019-14, University of Sydney, School of Economics, revised Nov 2019.
    11. Gaurab Aryal & Manudeep Bhuller & Fabian Lange, 2022. "Signaling and Employer Learning with Instruments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(5), pages 1669-1702, May.
    12. Jacek Liwiński & Francesco Pastore, 2021. "Are School-Provided Skills Useful at Work? Results of the Wiles Test," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 62(1), pages 72-97, February.
    13. Nohora Y. Forero Ramírez & Manuel Ramírez Gómez, 2008. "Determinantes de los ingresos laborales de los graduados universitarios durante el período 2001-2004," Documentos de Trabajo 4591, Universidad del Rosario.
    14. Graetz, Georg, 2017. "Human Capital, Signaling, and Employer Learning: What Insights Do We Gain from Regression Discontinuity Designs?," IZA Discussion Papers 11125, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Abbi Kedir & Andri Kyrizi & Francisco Martinez-Mora, 2012. "Signalling and Productivity Effects of Overeducation: Is It Really a Waste of Resources?," Discussion Papers in Economics 12/19, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    16. Cohodes, Sarah & Goodman, Joshua, 2012. "First Degree Earns: The Impact of College Quality on College Completion Rates," Working Paper Series rwp12-033, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    17. Silvia Kopecny & Steffen Hillmert, 2021. "Place of study, field of study and labour-market region: What matters for wage differences among higher-education graduates?," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 55(1), pages 1-21, December.
    18. Broecke, Stijn, 2012. "University selectivity and earnings: Evidence from UK data on applications and admissions to university," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 96-107.
    19. Olfindo, Rosechin, 2018. "Diploma as signal? Estimating sheepskin effects in the Philippines," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 113-119.
    20. Lisa Simon, 2019. "Microeconometric Analyses on Determinants of Individual Labour Market Outcomes," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 83.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Signalling Model; Higher Education; Italy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education

    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:ebl:ecbull:eb-18-01002. 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: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.