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College major, college coursework, and post-college wages

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  • Light, Audrey
  • Schreiner, Sydney

Abstract

We ask whether estimated wage payoffs to college majors change when we account for skills acquired in college by including college major dummies and detailed coursework measures in log-wage models. Using data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we find that students in all majors differ considerably in the percentage of credits taken within-major, as well as in their overall credit distributions. When credit distributions are taken into account in modeling log-wages, estimated coefficients for college majors often fall by 50% or more. Moreover, estimated log-wage gaps between select pairs of majors often change by orders of magnitude depending on whether we compare individuals whose overall credit distributions correspond to obtaining a low, medium, or high level of credit concentration within the major.

Suggested Citation

  • Light, Audrey & Schreiner, Sydney, 2019. "College major, college coursework, and post-college wages," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:73:y:2019:i:c:s0272775719303784
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2019.101935
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Hanks, Andrew S. & Jiang, Shengjun & Qian, Xuechao & Wang, Bo & Weinberg, Bruce, 2023. "Do Double Majors Face Less Risk? An Analysis of Human Capital Diversification," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 336016, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Light, Audrey & Wertz, Sydney Schreiner, 2022. "Should English majors take computer science courses? Labor market benefits of the occupational specificity of major and nonmajor college credits," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    College major; College coursework; Earnings;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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