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High school human capital portfolio and college outcomes

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  • Guy Tchuente

Abstract

This paper assesses the relationship between courses taken in high school and college major choice. Using High School and Beyond survey data, I study the empirical relationship between college performance and different types of courses taken during high school. I find that students sort into college majors according to subjects in which they acquired more skills in high school. However, I find a U-shaped relationship between the diversification of high school courses a student takes and their college performance. The underlying relation linking high school to college is assessed by estimating a structural model of high school human capital acquisition and college major choice. Policy experiments suggest that taking an additional quantitative course in high school increases the probability that a college student chooses a science, technology, engineering, or math major by four percentage points.

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  • Guy Tchuente, 2015. "High school human capital portfolio and college outcomes," Studies in Economics 1516, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    • Handle: RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1516
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    Cited by:

    1. Light, Audrey & Schreiner, Sydney, 2019. "College major, college coursework, and post-college wages," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    2. Leighton, Margaret & Speer, Jamin D., 2020. "Labor market returns to college major specificity," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    3. Eggenberger, Christian & Rinawi, Miriam & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2018. "Occupational specificity: A new measurement based on training curricula and its effect on labor market outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 97-107.
    4. Graziella Bertocchi & Luca Bonacini & Marina Murat, 2023. "Adams and Eves: High school math and the gender gap in Economics majors," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(4), pages 798-817, October.
    5. Granato, Silvia, 2023. "Early Influences and the choice of college major: Can policies reduce the gender gap in scientific curricula (STEM)?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 494-521.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    human capital; discrete choice; college major;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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