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A good career or a good marriage: The returns of higher education in France

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  • Courtioux, Pierre
  • Lignon, Vincent

Abstract

Following human capital theory, investment in education generates two kinds of returns: labour market returns and marriage market returns. Based on a dynamic microsimulation model, this article proposes a decomposition of these two effects for France and discusses the financial incentives of enrolling in higher education. Results show that the incentives stemming from the marriage market are negligible for men. By contrast, for women, the marriage market effect corresponds to almost 1/3 of the median return of higher education. Moreover, the marriage market does play an insurance role concerning the returns on tertiary education. It increases the risk of not capitalizing on higher education for both men and women, because marriage adds the uncertainty of the partner's career to the uncertainty of an individual's career. However, the risks relating to the value of this education investment remain higher for women. Overall, the results in this paper provide evidence for the fact that a family-oriented public policy may affect the educational choices for women.

Suggested Citation

  • Courtioux, Pierre & Lignon, Vincent, 2016. "A good career or a good marriage: The returns of higher education in France," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 221-237.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:57:y:2016:i:c:p:221-237
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2016.04.011
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    Cited by:

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    2. Friedhelm Pfeiffer & Holger Stichnoth, 2021. "Fiscal and individual rates of return to university education with and without graduation," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(16), pages 1432-1435, September.
    3. Guarini, Giulio & Laureti, Tiziana & Garofalo, Giuseppe, 2018. "Territorial and individual educational inequality: A Capability Approach analysis for Italy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 247-262.
    4. Sadaba, Barbara & Vujić, Sunčica & Maier, Sofia, 2024. "Characterizing the schooling cycle," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    5. Levin, Mark (Левин, Марк) & Matrosova, Ksenia (Матросова, Ксения), 2018. "Development and Research of Economic Behavior of Households in Changing Conditions [Разработка И Исследование Экономического Поведения Домохозяйств В Изменяющихся Условиях]," Working Papers 041825, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Higher education; Marriage market; Dynamic microsimulation; Assorted mating;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques

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