IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-22-00442.html

Why do women have a higher rate of return to schooling than men?

Author

Listed:
  • Yanan Chen

    (West Chester University)

  • Kyle A. Kelly

    (West Chester University)

Abstract

The rate of return to schooling is estimated higher for women than for men in most studies. Our explanation is the greater increase in expected lifetime work hours for women compared to men due to increased education. We compute the expected lifetime annual work hours, EXPHRS, by using a deterministic approach and include it in the wage equation. We find that EXPHRS positively affects hourly wages, and the effects are greater for women than for men. By controlling for the effects of EXPHRS, women have a slightly lower rate of return to schooling. It suggests the female-male differential in the rate of return to schooling can be explained by the gender difference in EXPHRS.

Suggested Citation

  • Yanan Chen & Kyle A. Kelly, 2023. "Why do women have a higher rate of return to schooling than men?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(1), pages 564-573.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-22-00442
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2023/Volume43/EB-23-V43-I1-P46.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Jacob Mincer & Solomon Polachek, 1974. "Family Investments in Human Capital: Earnings of Women," NBER Chapters, in: Marriage, Family, Human Capital, and Fertility, pages 76-110, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Raquel Fernández & Joyce Cheng Wong, 2014. "Divorce Risk, Wages and Working Wives: A Quantitative Life‐Cycle Analysis of Female Labour Force Participation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(576), pages 319-358, May.
    4. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Introduction to "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings"," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 1-4, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Claudia Olivetti, 2006. "Changes in Women's Hours of Market Work: The Role of Returns to Experience," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 9(4), pages 557-587, October.
    6. Christopher Dougherty, 2005. "Why Are the Returns to Schooling Higher for Women than for Men?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(4), pages 969-988.
    7. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2017. "The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(3), pages 789-865, September.
    8. W. Lee Hansen, 1963. "Total and Private Rates of Return to Investment in Schooling," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 71(2), pages 128-128.
    9. Blau, Francine D & Kahn, Lawrence M, 1997. "Swimming Upstream: Trends in the Gender Wage Differential in 1980s," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 1-42, January.
    10. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1, August.
    11. Alison J. Wellington, 1993. "Changes in the Male/Female Wage Gap, 1976-85," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 28(2), pages 383-411.
    12. Raquel Fernández & Joyce C. Wong, 2014. "Divorce Risk, Wages, and Working Wives: A Quantitative Life-Cycle Analysis of Female Labor Force Participation," NBER Working Papers 19869, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Karla Meneses & Sarah J. Carrington & Gustavo Cuesta & Katherine Oleas, 2026. "The Rural-Urban Divide in Gender Wage Gaps: an Analysis of Ecuador," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 38(1), pages 118-147, February.
    2. Elisa R. Birch & Alison C. Preston, 2021. "The Evolving Wage Structure of Young Adults in Australia: 2001 to 2019," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 97(318), pages 365-386, September.
    3. Assaf Rotman & Hadas Mandel, 2023. "Gender-Specific Wage Structure and the Gender Wage Gap in the U.S. Labor Market," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 165(2), pages 585-606, January.
    4. Boll Christina & Rossen Anja & Wolf André, 2017. "The EU Gender Earnings Gap: Job Segregation and Working Time as Driving Factors," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 237(5), pages 407-452, October.
    5. Fortin, Bernard & Ragued, Safa, 2017. "Does temporary interruption in postsecondary education induce a wage penalty? Evidence from Canada," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 108-122.
    6. Günalp, Burak & Cilasun, Seyit Mümin & Acar, Elif Öznur, 2013. "Male-Female Labor Market Participation and the Extent of Gender-Based Wage Discrimination in Turkey," MPRA Paper 51503, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Harry Anthony Patrinos & George Psacharopoulos & Aysit Tansel, 2019. "Returns to Investment in Education: The Case of Turkey," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 1906, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    8. Mustafizur Rahman & Marzuka Md. Al-Hasan, 2019. "Women in Bangladesh Labour Market: Determinants of Participation, Gender Wage Gap and Returns to Schooling," CPD Working Paper 124, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
    9. Bhalotra, Sonia R. & Fernandez Sierra, Manuel, 2018. "The Distribution of the Gender Wage Gap," IZA Discussion Papers 11640, IZA Network @ LISER.
    10. Harry Anthony Patrinos & George Psacharopoulos & Aysit Tansel, 2019. "Returns to Investment in Education: The Case of Turkey," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 1906, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    11. Patrinos, Harry Anthony & Rivera, Angelica, 2025. "Education and Earnings in Arkansas," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1621, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    12. Harry Anthony Patrinos & George Psacharopoulos & Aysit Tansel, 2019. "GLOBALISATION AND GOVERNANCE: Returns to Investment in Education: The Case of Turkey," ERC Working Papers 1903, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Mar 2019.
    13. MinSub Kim & Joyce J. Chen & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2023. "Gender pay gaps in economics: A deeper look at institutional factors," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(4), pages 471-486, July.
    14. Chen, Yanan & Kelly, Kyle A., 2019. "The gender difference in wages and the returns to schooling over the great recession in the U.S," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 190-198.
    15. Günalp, Burak & Cilasun, Seyit Mümin & Acar, Elif Öznur, 2013. "Male-Female Labor Market Participation and the Extent of Gender-Based Wage Discrimination in Turkey," MPRA Paper 51503, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Fraga, Eduardo & Gonzaga, Gustavo & Soares, Rodrigo R., 2017. "Selection on Ability and the Early Career Growth in the Gender Wage Gap," IZA Discussion Papers 10791, IZA Network @ LISER.
    17. Plamen Nikolov & Nusrat Jimi, 2018. "What factors drive individual misperceptions of the returns to schooling in Tanzania? Some lessons for education policy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(44), pages 4705-4723, September.
    18. Dai Binh Tran & Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat, 2023. "The returns to education and wage penalty from overeducation: New evidence from Vietnam," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 1267-1290, October.
    19. Hara, Hiromi, 2018. "The gender wage gap across the wage distribution in Japan: Within- and between-establishment effects," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 213-229.
    20. Sami Napari, 2008. "The Early‐career Gender Wage Gap among University Graduates in the Finnish Private Sector," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 22(4), pages 697-733, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • 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-22-00442. 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.