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Do Former College Athletes Earn More at Work? A Nonparametric Assessment

Author Info

  • Henderson, Daniel J.

    ()

    (University of Alabama)

  • Olbrecht, Alexandre

    ()

    (Ramapo College of New Jersey)

  • Polachek, Solomon

    ()

    (Binghamton University, New York)

Abstract

This paper investigates how students' collegiate athletic participation affects their subsequent labor market success. It uses newly developed distributional tests to establish that the wage distribution of former college athletes is significantly different from non-athletes and that athletic participation is a significant determinant of wages. Additionally, by using newly developed techniques in nonparametric regression, it shows that on average former college athletes earn a wage premium. However, the premium is not uniform, but skewed so that more than half the athletes actually earn less than non-athletes. Further, the premium is not uniform across occupations. Athletes earn more in the fields of business, military, and manual labor, but surprisingly, athletes are more likely to become high school teachers, which pays a relatively lower wage to athletes. We conclude that nonpecuniary factors play an important role in occupational choice, at least for many former collegiate athletes.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1882.

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Length: 29 pages
Date of creation: Dec 2005
Date of revision:
Publication status: published in: Journal of Human Resources, 2006, 41(3), 558-577
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1882
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Keywords: nonparametric; generalized Kernel estimation; wage determination; sports economics; earnings; athletics;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
  • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
  • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
  • J40 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - General
  • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

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Cited by:

  1. repec:ner:leuven:urn:hdl:123456789/424882 is not listed on IDEAS
  2. Ozkan Eren & Daniel J. Henderson, 2008. "The impact of homework on student achievement," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 11(2), pages 326-348, 07.
  3. Barbara Kotschwar, 2014. "Women, Sports, and Development: Does It Pay to Let Girls Play?," Policy Briefs PB14-8, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
  4. Ong C. & Witte K. de, 2013. "Ethnic segregation and heterogeneous preferences of homeowners for housing and neighbourhood characteristics : evidence from the Netherlands," MERIT Working Papers 061, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
  5. Steven Caudill & James Long, 2010. "Do former athletes make better managers? Evidence from a partially adaptive grouped-data regression model," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 275-290, August.
  6. Lechner, Michael, 2009. "Long-run labour market and health effects of individual sports activities," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 839-854, July.
  7. Müller, Michael, 2016. "Fördert sportliche Aktivität den beruflichen Aufstieg?," Discussion Papers of the Institute for Organisational Economics 02/2016, University of Münster, Institute for Organisational Economics.
  8. Zhu, Rong, 2011. "Individual heterogeneity in returns to education in urban China during 1995-2002," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 84-87, October.
  9. Olbrecht, Alexandre, 2009. "Do academically deficient scholarship athletes earn higher wages subsequent to graduation?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 611-619, October.
  10. Müller, Michael, 2015. "Der Zusammenhang zwischen sportlicher (Wettkampf-)Aktivität und kognitiver Leistung," Discussion Papers of the Institute for Organisational Economics 1/2015, University of Münster, Institute for Organisational Economics.
  11. Zhu, Rong, 2011. "NILS Working paper no 170. The impact of major--job mismatch on college graduates' early career earnings," NILS Working Papers 26072, National Institute of Labour Studies.
  12. Lundin, Martin & Nordström Skans, Oskar & Zetterberg, Pär, 2016. "Leadership experiences, labor market entry, and early career trajectories," Working Paper Series 2016:2, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
  13. Michael Müller, 2016. "Der Zusammenhang zwischen sportlicher (Wettkampf-)Aktivität und kognitiver Leistung," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 838, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
  14. Caruso, Raul, 2011. "Crime and sport participation: Evidence from Italian regions over the period 1997–2003," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 455-463.

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