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Disrupted academic careers: The returns to time off after high school

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  • de Roux, Nicolás
  • Riehl, Evan

Abstract

This paper asks how academic breaks after high school affect individuals’ college and labor market outcomes. We exploit a policy that altered academic calendars in two regions of Colombia, which caused thousands of high school graduates to have to wait an extra semester to start college. Using administrative data and a synthetic control design, we show that the academic break caused many students to forgo enrolling in college at all. The academic break reduced the early-career earnings of students with high levels of academic preparation, but it had little impact on earnings for less-prepared students.

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  • de Roux, Nicolás & Riehl, Evan, 2022. "Disrupted academic careers: The returns to time off after high school," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:156:y:2022:i:c:s0304387822000074
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.102824
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    Cited by:

    1. de Roux, Nicolás & Riehl, Evan, 2022. "Do college students benefit from placement into higher-achieving classes?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    2. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan & Sven Fischer, 2023. "The Impact of a Large-Scale Natural Disaster on Local Economic Activity: Evidence from the 2003 Bam Earthquake in Iran," CESifo Working Paper Series 10502, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Academic breaks; Returns to college;

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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