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Wage expectations and access to healthcare occupations: Evidence from an information experiment

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  • Bernhofer, Juliana
  • Fedele, Alessandro
  • Tonin, Mirco

Abstract

We investigate how correcting students’ wage expectations affects their performance on admission tests for medical and healthcare schools, a critical step for aspiring healthcare professionals. Using a randomized information experiment with Italian applicants, we first elicited their expectations about the starting wage of the healthcare profession they intended to pursue. The treatment group was then informed of the actual starting wages, while the control group received no such information. Finally, we collected and analyzed their test scores. Our findings reveal that applicants with lower wage expectations tend to perform worse on the test. However, correcting these expectations eliminates the performance gap: providing accurate wage information enhances test scores for applicants who initially underestimated wages, while it negatively impacts those who overestimated them.

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  • Bernhofer, Juliana & Fedele, Alessandro & Tonin, Mirco, 2025. "Wage expectations and access to healthcare occupations: Evidence from an information experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:93:y:2025:i:c:s0927537125000156
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102688
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Information experiment; Wage expectations; Test scores; Health occupations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments

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