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The Changing Roles of Education and Ability in Wage Determination

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  • Gonzalo Castex
  • Evgenia Dechter

Abstract

This study examines changes in returns to formal education and cognitive skills over the last 20 years using the 1979 and 1997 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We show that cognitive skills had a 30%-60% larger effect on wages in the 1980s than in the 2000s. Returns to education were higher in the 2000s. These developments are not explained by changing distributions of workers’ observable characteristics or by changing labor market structure. We show that the decline in returns to ability can be attributed to differences in the growth rate of technology between the 1980s and 2000s.

Suggested Citation

  • Gonzalo Castex & Evgenia Dechter, 2013. "The Changing Roles of Education and Ability in Wage Determination," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 704, Central Bank of Chile.
    • Handle: RePEc:chb:bcchwp:704
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    1. repec:bla:ecinqu:v:55:y:2017:i:1:p:187-201 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Paul Beaudry & David A. Green & Benjamin M. Sand, 2016. "The Great Reversal in the Demand for Skill and Cognitive Tasks," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(S1), pages 199-247.
    3. Youngmin Park & Youngki Shin & Lance Lochner, 2017. "Earnings Dynamics and Returns to Skills," 2017 Meeting Papers 166, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. Brad Hershbein & Lisa B. Kahn, 2018. "Do Recessions Accelerate Routine-Biased Technological Change? Evidence from Vacancy Postings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(7), pages 1737-1772, July.
    5. Edin, Per-Anders & Fredriksson, Peter & Nybom, Martin & Öckert, Björn, 2017. "The Rising Return to Non-Cognitive Skill," IZA Discussion Papers 10914, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Lance Lochner & Youngmin Park & Youngki Shin, 2017. "Wage Dynamics and Returns to Unobserved Skill," University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers 201726, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP).
    7. repec:eee:ecoedu:v:69:y:2019:i:c:p:149-154 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:eee:respol:v:47:y:2018:i:1:p:289-304 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. repec:eee:injoed:v:60:y:2018:i:c:p:60-79 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Joshua Goodman, 2017. "The Labor of Division: Returns to Compulsory High School Math Coursework," NBER Working Papers 23063, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. D’Haultfœuille, Xavier & Maurel, Arnaud & Zhang, Yichong, 2018. "Extremal quantile regressions for selection models and the black–white wage gap," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 203(1), pages 129-142.
    12. Ashworth, Jared & Ransom, Tyler, 2019. "Has the college wage premium continued to rise? Evidence from multiple U.S. surveys," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 149-154.
    13. Jared Ashworth & V. Joseph Hotz & Arnaud Maurel & Tyler Ransom, 2017. "Changes across Cohorts in Wage Returns to Schooling and Early Work Experiences," NBER Working Papers 24160, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Fonseca, Tiago & Lima, Francisco & Pereira, Sonia C., 2018. "Understanding productivity dynamics: A task taxonomy approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 289-304.
    15. Eleanor Wiske Dillon & Jeffrey Smith, 2018. "The Consequences of Academic Match between Students and Colleges," Working Papers 2018-060, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    16. Richey, Jeremiah & Rosburg, Alicia, 2014. "Human capital and trends in the transmission of economic status across generations in the U.S," MPRA Paper 60113, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. David J. Deming, 2015. "The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market," NBER Working Papers 21473, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Robert Plant & Manuel S. Santos & Tarek Sayed, 2017. "Computerization, Composition of Employment, and Structure of Wages," Working Papers 2017-09, University of Miami, Department of Economics.
    19. Maarten Goos & Melanie Arntz & Ulrich Zierahn & Terry Gregory & Stephanie Carretero Gomez & Ignacio Gonzalez Vazquez & Koen Jonkers, 2019. "The Impact of Technological Innovation on the Future of Work," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2019-03, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
    20. Taro Kimura & Yoshiyuki Kurachi & Tomohiro Sugo, 2019. "Decreasing Wage Returns to Human Capital: Analysis of Wage and Job Experience Using Micro Data of Workers," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 19-E-12, Bank of Japan.

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