An article authored by Mark Long titled "Changes in the Returns to Education and College Quality" was conditionally accepted for publication by the journal Economics of Education Review. The article demonstrates changes in the effects of educational attainment and college quality on three cohorts of students observed during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Educational attainment and college quality raise earnings and the magnitudes of these effects have increased over time. Changes in these effects are disaggregated by sex, race, and parent's socio-economic status, and include estimates of effects on earnings, labor force participation, family formation, and civic participation. The article finds evidence of larger increases in the effects of education on earnings and labor force participation for men, blacks, and Hispanics, declining effects of educational attainment on voter registration, and increasing effects of college quality on delaying marriage and childbearing, particularly for males.
Published on May 15, 2008
