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Trends in Quality-Adjusted Skill Premia in the United States, 1960-2000

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Carneiro, Pedro

    ()

    (University College London)

  • Lee, Sokbae

    ()

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London)

Abstract

This paper presents new evidence that increases in college enrollment lead to a decline in the average quality of college graduates between 1960 and 2000, resulting in a decrease of 6 percentage points in the college premium. We show that although a standard demand and supply framework can qualitatively account for the trend in the college and age premia over this period, substantial quantitative adjustments still need to be made to account for changes in quality.

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File URL: http://ftp.iza.org/dp5295.pdf
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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 5295.

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Length: 72 pages
Date of creation: Oct 2010
Publication status: published in: American Economic Review, 2011, 110 (6), 2309-2349
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5295
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Keywords: inequality; college premium; composition effects;

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  • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General

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  1. Trends in Quality-Adjusted Skill Premia in the United States, 1960-2000
    by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2010-11-23 17:10:57
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