IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/advdac/v10y2016i4d10.1007_s11634-016-0259-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Human capital estimation in higher education

Author

Listed:
  • Pietro Giorgio Lovaglio

    (University of Milan-Bicocca)

  • Gianmarco Vacca

    (University of Milan-Bicocca)

  • Stefano Verzillo

    (University of Milan)

Abstract

The concept of human capital (HC) could be defined, from an economical viewpoint, as a stock variable representing the capacity of an individual to produce a sustained flow of income due to its investment in (higher) education and work experience. This paper focuses on the empirical estimation of the graduates’ latent variable HC, composed of two principal dimensions, Educational HC and Work Experience HC, within a realistic structural model, allowing causal relationship among endogenous and exogenous indicators, taking into account possible effects of external covariates. New administrative archives and a novel methodological approach are used. The methodology is applied to estimate HC of graduates in several universities of the Milan area in the early stages of their working career. The empirical results confirm the structure of the Italian job market, where investment in HC through higher education plays only a marginal role for explaining the economic performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Pietro Giorgio Lovaglio & Gianmarco Vacca & Stefano Verzillo, 2016. "Human capital estimation in higher education," Advances in Data Analysis and Classification, Springer;German Classification Society - Gesellschaft für Klassifikation (GfKl);Japanese Classification Society (JCS);Classification and Data Analysis Group of the Italian Statistical Society (CLADAG);International Federation of Classification Societies (IFCS), vol. 10(4), pages 465-489, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:advdac:v:10:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s11634-016-0259-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11634-016-0259-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11634-016-0259-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11634-016-0259-5?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brunello, Giorgio & Checchi, Daniele, 2005. "School quality and family background in Italy," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 563-577, October.
    2. Kevin M. Murphy & Finis Welch, 1992. "The Structure of Wages," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(1), pages 285-326.
    3. Willis, Robert J & Rosen, Sherwin, 1979. "Education and Self-Selection," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages 7-36, October.
    4. Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of the Economics of Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4, June.
    5. Lawrence F. Katz & Kevin M. Murphy, 1992. "Changes in Relative Wages, 1963–1987: Supply and Demand Factors," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(1), pages 35-78.
    6. Robert E. Lipsey & Helen Stone Tice, 1989. "The Measurement of Saving, Investment, and Wealth," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number lips89-1.
    7. Nicola Francesco Dotti & Ugo Fratesi & Camilla Lenzi & Marco Percoco, 2013. "Local Labour Markets and the Interregional Mobility of Italian University Students," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(4), pages 443-468, March.
    8. Ides Nicaise, 2001. "Human capital, reservation wages and job competition: Heckman's lambda re-interpreted," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 309-315.
    9. Hanushek, Eric A., 2002. "Publicly provided education," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 30, pages 2045-2141, Elsevier.
    10. Trinh Le & John Gibson & Les Oxley, 2003. "Cost‐ and Income‐based Measures of Human Capital," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 271-307, July.
    11. Lovaglio, Pietro Giorgio, 2008. "Process of accumulation of Italian human capital," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 342-356, December.
    12. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1992. "Does School Quality Matter? Returns to Education and the Characteristics of Public Schools in the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(1), pages 1-40, February.
    13. Harmon, Colm & Walker, Ian, 1995. "Estimates of the Economic Return to Schooling for the United Kingdom," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1278-1286, December.
    14. Di Pietro, Giorgio & Cutillo, Andrea, 2008. "Degree flexibility and university drop-out: The Italian experience," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 546-555, October.
    15. Tenenhaus, Michel & Vinzi, Vincenzo Esposito & Chatelin, Yves-Marie & Lauro, Carlo, 2005. "PLS path modeling," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 159-205, January.
    16. Péter Földvári & Bas Van Leeuwen, 2006. "An Estimation of the Human Capital Stock in Eastern and Central Europe," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(6), pages 53-65, December.
    17. David Card & Alan Krueger, 1996. "Labor Market Effects of School Quality: Theory and Evidence," Working Papers 736, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    18. Christian Belzil & Jörgen Hansen, 2002. "Unobserved Ability and the Return to Schooling," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(5), pages 2075-2091, September.
    19. Silvia Bacci & Bruno Chiandotto & Angelo Di Francia & silvia.ghiselli@almalaurea.it, 2008. "Graduates Job Mobility: A Longitudinal Analysis," Statistica, Department of Statistics, University of Bologna, vol. 68(3), pages 255-279.
    20. Hanushek, Eric A, 1986. "The Economics of Schooling: Production and Efficiency in Public Schools," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 1141-1177, September.
    21. Glewwe, Paul, 1996. "The relevance of standard estimates of rates of return to schooling for education policy: A critical assessment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 267-290, December.
    22. James Heckman & Lance Lochner & Christopher Taber, 1998. "Explaining Rising Wage Inequality: Explanations With A Dynamic General Equilibrium Model of Labor Earnings With Heterogeneous Agents," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 1(1), pages 1-58, January.
    23. Rumberger, Russell W. & Thomas, Scott L., 1993. "The economic returns to college major, quality and performance: A multilevel analysis of recent graduates," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, March.
    24. David Card & Alan B. Krueger, 1996. "Labor Market Effects of School Quality: Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 5450, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. James J. Heckman & Lance J. Lochner & Petra E. Todd, 2003. "Fifty Years of Mincer Earnings Regressions," NBER Working Papers 9732, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    26. Daniele Checchi & Gianni De Fraja & Stefano Verzillo, 2014. "Publish or Perish: An Analysis of the Academic Job Market in Italy," Discussion Papers 14/04, University of Nottingham, School of Economics.
    27. Kane, Thomas J & Rouse, Cecilia Elena, 1995. "Labor-Market Returns to Two- and Four-Year College," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 600-614, June.
    28. D. Ciriaci, 2005. "La fuga del capitale umano qualificato dal Mezzogiorno: un catching-up sempre più difficile," Rivista economica del Mezzogiorno, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2-3, pages 369-404.
    29. Arnold Wollenberg, 1977. "Redundancy analysis an alternative for canonical correlation analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 42(2), pages 207-219, June.
    30. Philippe Aghion & Mathias Dewatripont & Caroline M. Hoxby & Andreu Mas-Colell & André Sapir, 2009. "The Governance and Performance of Research Universities: Evidence from Europe and the U.S," NBER Working Papers 14851, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    31. Richard Blundell & Lorraine Dearden & Barbara Sianesi, 2005. "Evaluating the effect of education on earnings: models, methods and results from the National Child Development Survey," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 168(3), pages 473-512, July.
    32. Heckman, James, 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.
    33. Dagum, Camilo & Slottje, Daniel J., 2000. "A new method to estimate the level and distribution of household human capital with application," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 67-94, July.
    34. Garen, John, 1984. "The Returns to Schooling: A Selectivity Bias Approach with a Continuous Choice Variable," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(5), pages 1199-1218, September.
    35. Pietro Giorgio Lovaglio, 2010. "The Estimation Of Human Capital By Administrative Archives In A Static And Longitudinal Perspective: The Case Of Milan," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 280-308, April.
    36. Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of the Economics of Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3, June.
    37. Yoshio Takane & Henk Kiers & Jan Leeuw, 1995. "Component analysis with different sets of constraints on different dimensions," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 259-280, June.
    38. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-442, June.
    39. Camilo Dagum & Giorgio Vittadini & Pietro Giorgio Lovaglio, 2007. "Formative Indicators and Effects of a Causal Model for Household Human Capital with Application," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(5), pages 579-596.
    40. Chamberlain, Gary & Griliches, Zvi, 1975. "Unobservables with a Variance-Components Structure: Ability, Schooling, and the Economic Success of Brothers," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 16(2), pages 422-449, June.
    41. William Meredith & Roger Millsap, 1985. "On component analyses," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 495-507, December.
    42. Heungsun Hwang & Yoshio Takane, 2004. "Generalized structured component analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 69(1), pages 81-99, March.
    43. Smith, Jeremy & McKnight, Abigail & Naylor, Robin, 2000. "Graduate Employability: Policy and Performance in Higher Education in the UK," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(464), pages 382-411, June.
    44. Griliches, Zvi, 1977. "Estimating the Returns to Schooling: Some Econometric Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(1), pages 1-22, January.
    45. Vittadini, Giorgio & Lovaglio, Pietro Giorgio, 2007. "Evaluation of the Dagum-Slottje method to estimate household human capital," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 270-278, June.
    46. Dan A. Black & Jeffrey A. Smith, 2006. "Estimating the Returns to College Quality with Multiple Proxies for Quality," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 701-728, July.
    47. Giuseppe Folloni & Giorgio Vittadini, 2010. "Human Capital Measurement: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 248-279, April.
    48. Wilhelm Lorenz & Joachim Wagner & Karel van den Bosch, 1990. "A Note on the Returns to Human Capital in the Eighties: Evidence from Twelve Countries," LIS Working papers 54, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    49. Heckman, James J & Sedlacek, Guilherme, 1985. "Heterogeneity, Aggregation, and Market Wage Functions: An Empirical Model of Self-selection in the Labor Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(6), pages 1077-1125, December.
    50. Henk Kiers & Jos Berge, 1989. "Alternating least squares algorithms for simultaneous components analysis with equal component weight matrices in two or more populations," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 467-473, September.
    51. Geraint Johnes & Robert McNabb, 2004. "Never Give up on the Good Times: Student Attrition in the UK," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 66(1), pages 23-47, February.
    52. Takane, Yoshio & Hwang, Heungsun, 2005. "An extended redundancy analysis and its applications to two practical examples," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 785-808, June.
    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. Lovaglio, Pietro Giorgio, 2008. "Process of accumulation of Italian human capital," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 342-356, December.
    2. Angel de la Fuente & Antonio Ciccone, 2003. "Human capital in a global and knowledge-based economy," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 562.03, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    3. Pietro Giorgio Lovaglio, 2010. "The Estimation Of Human Capital By Administrative Archives In A Static And Longitudinal Perspective: The Case Of Milan," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 280-308, April.
    4. Keane, Michael P. & Todd, Petra E. & Wolpin, Kenneth I., 2011. "The Structural Estimation of Behavioral Models: Discrete Choice Dynamic Programming Methods and Applications," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 4, pages 331-461, Elsevier.
    5. Meghir, Costas & Rivkin, Steven, 2011. "Econometric Methods for Research in Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 1, pages 1-87, Elsevier.
    6. Giuseppe Folloni & Giorgio Vittadini, 2010. "Human Capital Measurement: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 248-279, April.
    7. Lee, Donghoon & Wolpin, Kenneth I., 2010. "Accounting for wage and employment changes in the US from 1968-2000: A dynamic model of labor market equilibrium," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 156(1), pages 68-85, May.
    8. Alan B. Krueger & Mikael Lindahl, 1998. "Education for Growth in Sweden and the World," Working Papers 790, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    9. David Card & Alan B. Krueger, 1996. "School Resources and Student Outcomes: An Overview of the Literature and New Evidence from North and South Carolina," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 31-50, Fall.
    10. Melissa Osborne & Herbert Gintis & Samuel Bowles, 2001. "The Determinants of Earnings: A Behavioral Approach," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1137-1176, December.
    11. Pedro Carneiro & Sokbae (Simon) Lee, 2005. "Ability, sorting and wage inequality," CeMMAP working papers CWP16/05, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    12. Gould, Eric D., 2005. "Inequality and ability," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 169-189, April.
    13. Andrea Cammelli, 2012. "Consolidamento ed eterogeneità nelle esperienze di studio dei laureati italiani," Working Papers 49, AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium.
    14. Philip Kostov & Julie Le Gallo, 2018. "What role for human capital in the growth process: new evidence from endogenous latent factor panel quantile regressions," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(5), pages 501-527, November.
    15. Monazza Aslam, 2006. "Rates of Return to Education by Gender in Pakistan," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-064, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    16. Christopher Bollinger & James P. Ziliak & Kenneth R. Troske, 2011. "Down from the Mountain: Skill Upgrading and Wages in Appalachia," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(4), pages 819-857.
    17. Brunello, Giorgio & Checchi, Daniele, 2005. "School quality and family background in Italy," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 563-577, October.
    18. Belfield, C. R. & Fielding, A., 2001. "Measuring the relationship between resources and outcomes in higher education in the UK," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 589-602, December.
    19. John K. Dagsvik & TorbjØrn HÆgeland & Arvid Raknerud, 2011. "Estimating the returns to schooling: a likelihood approach based on normal mixtures," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 613-640, June.
    20. Inmaculada Garc�a Mainar & V�ctor M. Montuenga G�mez, 2004. "Returns to education and to experience within the EU: are there differences between wage earners and the self-employed?," Documentos de Trabajo dt2004-08, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Zaragoza.

    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:spr:advdac:v:10:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s11634-016-0259-5. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.