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Unobserved heterogeneity and risk in wage variance: Does more schooling reduce earnings risk?*

* This paper is a replication of an original study

Author

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  • Mazza, Jacopo
  • van Ophem, Hans
  • Hartog, Joop

Abstract

We apply a recently proposed method to disentangle unobserved heterogeneity from risk in returns to education to data for the USA, the UK and Germany. We find that in residual wage variation, uncertainty by far dominates unobserved heterogeneity. The relation between uncertainty and level of education is not monotonic and differs among countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Mazza, Jacopo & van Ophem, Hans & Hartog, Joop, 2013. "Unobserved heterogeneity and risk in wage variance: Does more schooling reduce earnings risk?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 323-338.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:24:y:2013:i:c:p:323-338
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2013.09.007
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    10. Stacey H. Chen, 2008. "Estimating the Variance of Wages in the Presence of Selection and Unobserved Heterogeneity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(2), pages 275-289, May.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Binelli, Chiara & Menezes-Filho, Naercio, 2019. "Why Brazil fell behind in college education?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 80-106.
    2. Sergey Roshchin & Victor Rudakov, 2015. "Do Starting Salaries for Graduates Measure the Quality of Education? A Review of Studies by Russian and Foreign Authors," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 1, pages 137-181.
    3. d’Astous, Philippe & Shore, Stephen H., 2024. "Programs of study and earnings dynamics," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    4. Yang, Guanyi & Casner, Ben, 2021. "How much does schooling disutility matter?," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 87-95.
    5. Daniel J. Henderson & Anne-Charlotte Souto & Le Wang, 2020. "Higher-Order Risk–Returns to Education," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-25, October.
    6. Alice Chen & Anthony T. Lo Sasso & Michael R. Richards, 2018. "Supply‐side effects from public insurance expansions: Evidence from physician labor markets," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 690-708, April.
    7. Joop Hartog & Luis Diaz-Serrano, 2015. "Why Do We Ignore the Risk in Schooling Decisions?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 125-153, June.
    8. Koerselman, Kristian & Uusitalo, Roope, 2014. "The risk and return of human capital investments," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 154-163.

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    Replication

    This item is a replication of:
  • Stacey H. Chen, 2008. "Estimating the Variance of Wages in the Presence of Selection and Unobserved Heterogeneity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(2), pages 275-289, May.

    • More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage inequality; Wage uncertainty; Unobserved heterogeneity; Selectivity; Education; Replication;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C01 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - Econometrics
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • C34 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Truncated and Censored Models; Switching Regression Models
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Unobserved heterogeneity and risk in wage variance: Does more schooling reduce earnings risk? (LE 2013) in ReplicationWiki

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