The Consumption Value of Higher Education

26 Pages Posted: 19 Dec 2009

See all articles by Annette Alstadsæter

Annette Alstadsæter

School of Economics and Business, NMBU

Hans Henrik Sievertsen

University of Bristol

Date Written: December 2009

Abstract

The consumption value of higher education is an important factor behind the individual’s educational choice. We provide a comprehensive literature survey, and define the consumption value as the private, intended, non-pecuniary return to higher education. We provide new empirical evidence for the willingness to pay for the consumption value of a particular type of higher education. Even when controlling for ability selection, we find on US data that Liberal Arts graduates were willing to forego 46 pct. of their potential income in order to enjoy the consumption value of this educational type.

Keywords: educational choice, type of education, non-pecuniary return, willingness to pay, consumption value of education

JEL Classification: J24, J31, J33, I21, H89

Suggested Citation

Alstadsaeter, Annette and Sievertsen, Hans Henrik, The Consumption Value of Higher Education (December 2009). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 2871, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1521425 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1521425

Annette Alstadsaeter (Contact Author)

School of Economics and Business, NMBU ( email )

Norwegian University of Life Sciences
As
Norway

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/view/annettealstadsater/start

Hans Henrik Sievertsen

University of Bristol ( email )

University of Bristol,
Senate House, Tyndall Avenue
Bristol, Avon BS8 ITH
United Kingdom

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