IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ris/actuec/v54y1978i3p337-354.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

La théorie économique des choix de carrière : une interprétation et une vérification empirique

Author

Listed:
  • Lemelin, Clément

    (Université du Québec à Montréal)

  • Otis, Jean-Claude

    (Société Métreq)

Abstract

In their choice of a field of study, students are assumed by the "neoclassical" theory to be rational, well informed, flexible, and to react to changes in monetary variables. Data from a survey are used to show that students are economic men and women only in a weak sense: 1) they appear to be more interested in job availabilities and other job characteristics than in earnings associated with a particular field of study; 2) if their information can be said to be good with respect to forgone earnings and starting earnings of their chosen occupation such is not the case with respect to future earnings; 3) however, their expected rates of return on their studies seem plausible and show all the usual properties of rates of return derived from more conventional computations.

Suggested Citation

  • Lemelin, Clément & Otis, Jean-Claude, 1978. "La théorie économique des choix de carrière : une interprétation et une vérification empirique," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 54(3), pages 337-354, juillet.
  • Handle: RePEc:ris:actuec:v:54:y:1978:i:3:p:337-354
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/800779ar
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Weiss, Yoram, 1971. "Investment in Graduate Education," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(5), pages 833-852, December.
    2. Theodore W. Schultz, 1968. "Resources for Higher Education: An Economist's View," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(3), pages 327-327.
    3. Bruce W. Wilkinson, 1966. "Present Values of Lifetime Earnings for Different Occupations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(6), pages 556-556.
    4. Edward B. Bell, 1975. "Student Choice of Undergraduate Major Field of Study and Private Internal Rates of Return," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 28(2), pages 282-284, January.
    5. Parsons, Donald O, 1974. "The Cost of School Time, Foregone Earnings, and Human Capital Formation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(2), pages 251-266, Part I, M.
    6. Edmund S. Phelps, 1973. "The Harried Leisure Class: A Demurrer," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(4), pages 641-645.
    7. James V. Koch, 1972. "Student Choice of Undergraduate Major Field of Study and Private Internal Rates of Return," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 26(1), pages 680-685, October.
    8. David A.Dodge & Neil M. Swan, 1971. "Factors Influencing Career Choices of Students: An Empirical Examination of Some Aspects of the Neoclassical Theory of Choice in Labour Markets," Working Paper 48, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Boudarbat, Brahim, 2004. "Earnings and Community College Field of Study Choice in Canada," IZA Discussion Papers 1156, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Edward Lazear, 1977. "Schooling as a Wage Depressant," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 12(2), pages 164-176.
    3. Blinder, Alan S & Weiss, Yoram, 1976. "Human Capital and Labor Supply: A Synthesis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(3), pages 449-472, June.
    4. M. C. Navarro-Perez & J. M. Serrano-Sanz, 2002. "Evaluating Educational Output: An Estimation Method Based on Cross-Section Data," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 71-95.
    5. Christine Neill, 2015. "Rising student employment: the role of tuition fees," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 101-121, February.
    6. Perri, T. J., 2003. "The cost of specialized human capital," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 433-438, August.
    7. Lazear, Edward P, 1977. "Education: Consumption or Production?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(3), pages 569-597, June.
    8. Fellner, Wolfgang & Seidl, Roman, 2012. "The Relative Importance of Time and Money for Consumer Behavior and Prosperity," SRE-Discussion Papers 2012/08, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    9. Lazear, Edward P, 1976. "Age, Experience, and Wage Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(4), pages 548-558, September.
    10. Paul Wachtel, 1975. "The Returns to Investment in Higher Education: Another View," NBER Chapters, in: Education, Income, and Human Behavior, pages 151-170, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Meyer Tobias & Schneider Heidrun & Thomsen Stephan L., 2019. "New Evidence on the Effects of the Shortened School Duration in the German States: An Evaluation of Post-secondary Education Decisions," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 20(4), pages 201-253, December.
    12. Lex Borghans & Bart Golsteyn, 2007. "Skill transferability, regret and mobility," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(13), pages 1663-1677.
    13. Peterson, Willis L., 1975. "The Effect Of Part-Time Employment On Student Allocation Of Time And Academic Performance," Staff Papers 13239, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    14. Till Bärnighausen & David E. Bloom, 2009. "Changing Research Perspectives on the Global Health Workforce," NBER Working Papers 15168, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Kouladoum, Jean-Claude, 2019. "Décision du mariage des ménages tchadiens et Caractéristiques socio-économiques [Marriage decision of Chadian households and socio-economic characteristics]," MPRA Paper 91590, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Bibliography and Index," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 145-152, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Jacob Mincer, 1974. "Progress in Human Capital Analysis of the Distribution of Earnings," NBER Working Papers 0053, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Cebula, Richard & Lopes, Jerry, 1981. "Determinants of Student Choice of Undergraduate Major Field," MPRA Paper 49826, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Feb 1982.
    19. Light, Audrey, 2001. "In-School Work Experience and the Returns to Schooling," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(1), pages 65-93, January.
    20. Edmonds, Eric V., 2008. "Child Labor," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 57, pages 3607-3709, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    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:ris:actuec:v:54:y:1978:i:3:p:337-354. 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: Benoit Dostie (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/scseeea.html .

    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.