This paper constructs and estimates a career decision model where individuals search for both career matching and employer matching to understand wage growth and career mobility using the NLSY79. It departs from previous papers in that career mobility decisions and participation decisions are explicitly modeled. I find substantial returns to career-specific experience. However, college graduate...

This paper analyzes the changes in wealth inequality between college graduates and high-school graduates between 1989 and 2007. The college/high-school net worth gap first narrowed from 1989 to 1995 but then increased thereafter. The wealth gap between the two groups reflects the earnings gap as the evolution in the wealth gap follows the changes in the college premium in income during the samp...

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data related to education in the United States and other nations. It fulfills a congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report full and complete statistics on the condition of education in the United States; conduct and publish reports and specialized analys...

From 1940 to 1990, a 10% increase in a metropolitan area’s concentration of college-educated residents was associated with a 0.8% increase in subsequent employment growth. Instrumental variables estimates support a causal relationship between college graduates and employment growth, but show no evidence of an effect of high school graduates. Using data on growth in wages, rents, and house value...

This paper examines the impact of entry costs on the likelihood that recent college graduates become public school teachers. I combine Barron’s ratings of college selectivity, data on the types of teacher certification programs offered by colleges, and NELS data that tracks members of the high school class of 1988 into college and into the workforce. Restricting the sample to individuals who we...

Previous studies on the determinants of the choice of college major have assumed a constant probability of success across majors or a constant earnings stream across majors. Our model disregards these two restrictive assumptions in computing an expected earnings variable to explain the probability that a student will choose a specific major among four choices of concentrations. The construction...

Previous studies on the determinants of the choice of college major have assumed a constant probability of success across majors or a constant earnings stream across majors. Our model disregards these two restrictive assumptions in computing an expected earnings variable to explain the probability that a student will choose a specific major among four choices of concentrations. The construction...