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The Value of a Degree

Author

Listed:
  • Maria A. Cattaneo
  • Christian Gschwendt
  • Stefan C. Wolter

Abstract

The global rise in tertiary educational attainment has been attributed to various factors, most commonly higher expected earnings, improved protection against technological change, and prospects for upward social mobility. In a large-scale discrete-choice experiment with nearly 6,000 adults, we show that when these three factors are held constant, individuals show on average no additional intrinsic willingness to pay (WTP) for a university degree. Individuals are willing to forgo an amount of income roughly equivalent to the total cost of obtaining a university degree - including opportunity and direct costs-when trading off such a degree against basic vocational education. However, we observe significant heterogeneity depending on respondents' own educational attainment, gender and type of tertiary education: individuals with tertiary qualifications and men assign a higher value to higher education and the WTP is higher for university of applied degrees compared to academic university degrees.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria A. Cattaneo & Christian Gschwendt & Stefan C. Wolter, 2025. "The Value of a Degree," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0247, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    • Handle: RePEc:iso:educat:0247
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    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education

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