IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/labeco/v93y2025ics0927537125000028.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Erasmus program and labor market outcomes: Evidence from a fuzzy regression discontinuity design

Author

Listed:
  • De Benedetto, Marco Alberto
  • De Paola, Maria
  • Scoppa, Vincenzo
  • Smirnova, Janna

Abstract

We study the impact that participation in the Erasmus program produces on labor market outcomes. By implementing a Fuzzy RDD, we show that participating in the international mobility program positively affects the probability of being employed three years after graduation, and reduces the time spent to find a job. These results are mainly driven by male and STEM graduates. We also show that Erasmus graduates have a higher average monthly income once they enter the job market. We investigate potential mechanisms underlying our results and find that studying abroad improves both the proficiency in English and the graduates’ academic performance, and increases the willingness to move to find a job.

Suggested Citation

  • De Benedetto, Marco Alberto & De Paola, Maria & Scoppa, Vincenzo & Smirnova, Janna, 2025. "Erasmus program and labor market outcomes: Evidence from a fuzzy regression discontinuity design," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:93:y:2025:i:c:s0927537125000028
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102675
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537125000028
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102675?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giorgio Di Pietro, 2015. "Do Study Abroad Programs Enhance the Employability of Graduates?," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 10(2), pages 223-243, March.
    2. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2010. "Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 281-355, June.
    3. Matias D. Cattaneo & Michael Jansson & Xinwei Ma, 2020. "Simple Local Polynomial Density Estimators," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 115(531), pages 1449-1455, July.
    4. Pietro Garibaldi & Francesco Giavazzi & Andrea Ichino & Enrico Rettore, 2012. "College Cost and Time to Complete a Degree: Evidence from Tuition Discontinuities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(3), pages 699-711, August.
    5. Di Pietro, Giorgio, 2012. "Does studying abroad cause international labor mobility? Evidence from Italy," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 632-635.
    6. Hessel Oosterbeek & Dinand Webbink, 2006. "Assessing the returns to studying abroad," CPB Discussion Paper 64, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    7. Matthias Parey & Fabian Waldinger, 2011. "Studying Abroad and the Effect on International Labour Market Mobility: Evidence from the Introduction of ERASMUS," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(551), pages 194-222, March.
    8. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D Cattaneo & Max H Farrell, 2020. "Optimal bandwidth choice for robust bias-corrected inference in regression discontinuity designs," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 23(2), pages 192-210.
    9. Jacek Liwiński, 2019. "Does studying abroad enhance employability?," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 409-423, February.
    10. Caughey, Devin & Sekhon, Jasjeet S., 2011. "Elections and the Regression Discontinuity Design: Lessons from Close U.S. House Races, 1942–2008," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(4), pages 385-408.
    11. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    12. Veronica Grembi & Tommaso Nannicini & Ugo Troiano, 2016. "Do Fiscal Rules Matter?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 1-30, July.
    13. Koda, Yoshiko & Yuki, Takako, 2013. "The labor market outcomes of two forms of cross-border higher education degree programs between Malaysia and Japan," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 367-379.
    14. Lee, David S., 2008. "Randomized experiments from non-random selection in U.S. House elections," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 675-697, February.
    15. Valentina Ferri, 2019. "The impact of international students mobility on wages," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 73(2), pages 135-146, April-Jun.
    16. Imbens, Guido W. & Lemieux, Thomas, 2008. "Regression discontinuity designs: A guide to practice," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 615-635, February.
    17. Di Pietro Giorgio & European Commission & IZA, 2022. "Studying abroad and earnings: A meta‐analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1096-1129, September.
    18. McCrary, Justin, 2008. "Manipulation of the running variable in the regression discontinuity design: A density test," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 698-714, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Granato, Silvia & Havari, Enkelejda & Mazzarella, Gianluca & Schnepf, Sylke V., 2024. "Study abroad programmes and student outcomes: Evidence from Erasmus," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mauricio Villamizar‐Villegas & Freddy A. Pinzon‐Puerto & Maria Alejandra Ruiz‐Sanchez, 2022. "A comprehensive history of regression discontinuity designs: An empirical survey of the last 60 years," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1130-1178, September.
    2. Vergolini, Loris & Zanini, Nadir, 2015. "Away, but not too far from home. The effects of financial aid on university enrolment decisions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 91-109.
    3. Babii, Andrii & Kumar, Rohit, 2023. "Isotonic regression discontinuity designs," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 234(2), pages 371-393.
    4. Diop, Thierno Bocar & Védrine, Lionel, 2025. "Did crop diversity criterion from CAP green payments affect both economic and environmental farm performances? Quasi-experimental evidence from France," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    5. Blaise Melly & Rafael Lalive, 2020. "Estimation, Inference, and Interpretation in the Regression Discontinuity Design," Diskussionsschriften dp2016, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft.
    6. Jin‐young Choi & Myoung‐jae Lee, 2023. "Score manipulation, density continuity and intent‐to‐treat effect for regression discontinuity," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 552-569, October.
    7. Yoichi Arai & Yu‐Chin Hsu & Toru Kitagawa & Ismael Mourifié & Yuanyuan Wan, 2022. "Testing identifying assumptions in fuzzy regression discontinuity designs," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(1), pages 1-28, January.
    8. Bartalotti Otávio, 2019. "Regression Discontinuity and Heteroskedasticity Robust Standard Errors: Evidence from a Fixed-Bandwidth Approximation," Journal of Econometric Methods, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-26, January.
    9. Marco Alberto De Benedetto & Maria De Paola, 2017. "Candidates’ Education and Turnout: Evidence from Italian Municipal Elections," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 18(1), pages 22-50, February.
    10. Dor Leventer & Daniel Nevo, 2024. "Correcting invalid regression discontinuity designs with multiple time period data," Papers 2408.05847, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2025.
    11. Matias D. Cattaneo & Rocío Titiunik, 2022. "Regression Discontinuity Designs," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 821-851, August.
    12. Thierno Bocar Diop & Lionel Védrine, 2024. "Did crop diversity criterion from CAP green payments affect both economic and environmental farm performances? Quasi-experimental evidence from France," Post-Print hal-04739921, HAL.
    13. Higuchi, Yuki & Nakamuro, Makiko & Roever, Carsten & Sasaki, Miyuki & Yashima, Tomoko, 2023. "Impact of studying abroad on language skill development: Regression discontinuity evidence from Japanese university students," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    14. KAREKURVE-RAMACHANDRA, VARUN & Singh, Sudhir & Stommes, Drew, 2024. "Political Exit: The Unintended Effects of Electoral Rules," OSF Preprints d7xsk_v1, Center for Open Science.
    15. Prakash, Nishith & Rockmore, Marc & Uppal, Yogesh, 2019. "Do criminally accused politicians affect economic outcomes? Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    16. Christina Korting & Carl Lieberman & Jordan Matsudaira & Zhuan Pei & Yi Shen, 2023. "Visual Inference and Graphical Representation in Regression Discontinuity Designs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(3), pages 1977-2019.
    17. Joaquín Artés & Ignacio Jurado, 2018. "Government fragmentation and fiscal deficits: a regression discontinuity approach," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 175(3), pages 367-391, June.
    18. Paco Martorell & Damon Clark, 2010. "The Signaling Value of a High School Diploma," Working Papers 1248, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    19. Andrea De Meo & Lorenzo Ferrari, 2018. "Political Turnover and the Performance of Local Public Enterprises," CEIS Research Paper 438, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 08 Aug 2018.
    20. Takuya Ishihara & Masayuki Sawada, 2020. "Manipulation-Robust Regression Discontinuity Designs," Papers 2009.07551, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2024.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International mobility; Erasmus; Academic outcomes; Employment; Fuzzy RDD;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C26 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation
    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:93:y:2025:i:c:s0927537125000028. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/labeco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.