Assessing the Effect of Schooling on Earnings Using a Social Experiment

Meghir, Costas; Palme, Marten

doi:10.2139/ssrn.163328

Assessing the Effect of Schooling on Earnings Using a Social Experiment

Stockholm School of Economics Working Paper No. 313

51 Pages Posted: 12 Jul 1999

See all articles by Costas Meghir

Costas Meghir

Yale University; Yale University - Cowles Foundation; Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Marten Palme

Stockholm University - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: March 25, 1999

Abstract

The implementation of the 1950 Swedish comprehensive school reform was preceded by a unique social experiment. During this experiment between 1949 and 1962 the new school system was implemented in stages. This allows us to study the same cohort of individuals going through two different school systems, one of them implying at least one year of prolonged compulsory schooling, in a very similar environment. We use this exogenous variation in educational outcomes to estimate the average returns to education allowing for heterogeneity in the returns across individuals. We also use an ability measure (IQ scores and grades obtained at age 12 or 13) to allow for heterogenous returns to observed ability.

JEL Classification: C31, I21, I28, J24, J31

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Meghir, Costas and Palme, Marten, Assessing the Effect of Schooling on Earnings Using a Social Experiment (March 25, 1999). Stockholm School of Economics Working Paper No. 313, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=163328 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.163328