College Expansion and the Marginal Returns to Education: Evidence from Russia

57 Pages Posted: 30 Dec 2014

See all articles by Olga Belskaya

Olga Belskaya

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill; Ohio University

Klara Sabirianova Peter

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Christian Posso

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill

Abstract

This paper evaluates whether the expansion of higher education is economically worthwhile based on a recent surge in the number of campuses and college graduates in Russia. Our empirical strategy relies on the marginal treatment effect method in both normal and semi‐parametric versions, and estimating policy‐influenced treatment parameters for the marginal students who are directly affected by college expansion. We use high‐quality panel data with multiple wage observations, many birth cohorts, disaggregated location information, and past economic conditions.We find that college expansion attracts individuals with lower returns to college, but the returns for marginal students vary considerably depending on the scale of expansion and the type of location where new campuses are opened. Marginal individuals in smaller cities and locations without college campuses receive the largest benefits from new campuses. The results provide important implications for the design of policies targeting the expansion of higher education.

Keywords: education, returns to college, marginal treatment effect, policy‐relevant treatment effect, local instrumental variable, selection bias, college expansion, Russia

JEL Classification: J31, I21, P36

Suggested Citation

Belskaya, Olga and Belskaya, Olga and Sabirianova Peter, Klara and Posso, Christian, College Expansion and the Marginal Returns to Education: Evidence from Russia. IZA Discussion Paper No. 8735, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2543930 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2543930

Olga Belskaya (Contact Author)

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill ( email )

102 Ridge Road
Chapel Hill, NC NC 27514
United States

Ohio University ( email )

Athens, OH 45701-2979
United States

Klara Sabirianova Peter

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill ( email )

Chapel Hill, NC 27599
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.unc.edu/~kpeter

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Christian Posso

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill

102 Ridge Road
Chapel Hill, NC NC 27514
United States

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