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High School Graduation, Performance, and Wages

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  • Weiss, Andrew

Abstract

Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and a proprietary sample of semiskilled production workers, this paper investigates the reasons for the discontinuous increase in wages associated with graduation from high school. The author finds a discontinuous decrease in workers' propensities to quit or be absent. However, he does not find that graduates have a comparative advantage in production jobs requiring more training, nor in either sample is there a discontinuous increase in required training associated with the jobs held by graduates. The wage premium associated with graduation from high school appears to be procyclical, falling during slumps. There is also some evidence suggesting that prior quits have a larger effect on the wages of graduates than on the wages of dropouts. Copyright 1988 by University of Chicago Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Weiss, Andrew, 1988. "High School Graduation, Performance, and Wages," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 785-820, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:v:96:y:1988:i:4:p:785-820
    DOI: 10.1086/261563
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    Cited by:

    1. Kinvi D.A. Logossah, 1994. "Capital humain et croissance économique : une revue de la littérature," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 116(5), pages 17-34.
    2. Gemus, Jonathan, 2010. "College Achievement and Earnings," Working Paper Series 2010:1, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    3. Sicilian, Paul, 1995. "Employer search and worker-firm match quality," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(35), pages 515-532.
    4. Coles, Melvyn G. & Treble, John G., 1996. "Calculating the price of worker reliability," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 169-188, September.
    5. Harry J. Holzer, 1990. "Wages, Employer Costs, and Employee Performance in the Firm," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 43(3), pages 147-1-164-, April.
    6. Ruhm, Christopher J, 1997. "Is High School Employment Consumption or Investment?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(4), pages 735-776, October.
    7. Botea, Ioana & Donald, Aletheia & Rouanet, Léa, 2021. "In it to win it? Self-esteem and income-earning among couples," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 488-506.
    8. Philip Trostel & Ian Walker, 2004. "Sheepskin effects in work behaviour," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(17), pages 1959-1966.
    9. Shelly Lundberg, 2011. "Psychology and Family Economics," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 12(s1), pages 66-81, May.
    10. Perri, Timothy J., 2002. "Signaling versus contingent contracts with costly turnover," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 365-374, August.
    11. Chong Ju Choi & Philip Cheng & Brian Hilton, 2004. "European Union: Economic Convergenceversus Social Mobility," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 95(4), pages 427-432.
    12. Alexander J. Cowell, 2006. "The relationship between education and health behavior: some empirical evidence," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(2), pages 125-146, February.
    13. Valérie Canals & Claude Diebolt & Magali Jaoul-Grammare, 2015. "Education, productivité et gain. Retour sur les approches critiques de l’enchaînement causal de la théorie du capital humain," Working Papers of BETA 2015-22, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    14. Shelly Lundberg, 2012. "Personality and marital surplus," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-21, December.
    15. Canegallo, Claudia, 1999. "Funzionamento del mercato del lavoro in presenza di informazione asimmetrica. Una rassegna della letteratura," POLIS Working Papers 8, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
    16. Zhang, Yi & He, Jia, 2023. "Measuring non-cognitive skills exploiting log-files on online behaviour," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    17. Eliasson, Kent, 2006. "The Effects of Accessibility to University Education on Enrollment Decisions, Geographical Mobility, and Social Recruitment," Umeå Economic Studies 690, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    18. Shelly Lundberg, 2017. "Noncognitive Skills as Human Capital," NBER Chapters, in: Education, Skills, and Technical Change: Implications for Future US GDP Growth, pages 219-243, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. John Bishop, 1993. "Improving Job Matches in the U.S. Labor Market," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 24(1 Microec), pages 335-400.
    20. L.R. Maglen, 1990. "Challenging the Human Capital Orthodoxy: The Education‐Productivity Link Re‐examined," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 66(4), pages 281-294, December.
    21. Harry J. Holzer, 1988. "The Determinants of Employee Productivity and Earnings: Some New Evidence," NBER Working Papers 2782, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Tisdell, Clement A., 2005. "Education's Role in Economic Development and in Assisting the Poor," Social Economics, Policy and Development Working Papers 123452, University of Queensland, School of Economics.

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