IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/edecon/v32y2024i5p566-580.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Estimating returns to schooling and experience: a history of thought

Author

Listed:
  • Barry R. Chiswick

Abstract

This paper is a review of the literature in economics on the effect on earnings of human capital investment from Adam Smith to the early 1980s. It discusses the use of the net present value (NPV) technique by Walsh and Friedman and Kuznets, and Becker’s use of the NPV to estimate the internal rate of return to schooling. The first regression-based approach was the Becker and Chiswick ‘schooling-earnings function’, which was expanded by Mincer to the ‘human capital earnings function’ (HCEF) by incorporating on-the-job training. Extensions of the HCEF in the 1970s and early 1980s are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Barry R. Chiswick, 2024. "Estimating returns to schooling and experience: a history of thought," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(5), pages 566-580, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:32:y:2024:i:5:p:566-580
    DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2024.2326015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09645292.2024.2326015
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09645292.2024.2326015?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. J. R. Walsh, 1935. "Capital Concept Applied to Man," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 49(2), pages 255-285.
    2. Jacob Mincer & Solomon Polachek, 1974. "Family Investments in Human Capital: Earnings of Women," NBER Chapters, in: Marriage, Family, Human Capital, and Fertility, pages 76-110, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Barry R. Chiswick, 1974. "Income Inequality: Regional Analyses within a Human Capital Framework," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number chis74-1.
    4. Chiswick, Carmel Ullman, 1977. "On estimating earnings functions for LDCs," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 67-78, February.
    5. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Introduction to "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings"," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 1-4, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1.
    7. Milton Friedman & Simon Kuznets, 1945. "Income from Independent Professional Practice," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number frie54-1.
    8. Barry R. Chiswick & Paul W. Miller, 2012. "Negative and Positive Assimilation, Skill Transferability, and Linguistic Distance," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(1), pages 35-55.
    9. Chiswick, Barry R & Mincer, Jacob, 1972. "Time-Series Changes in Personal Income Inequality in the United States from 1939, with Projections to 1985," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(3), pages 34-66, Part II, .
    10. Gary S. Becker, 1964. "Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, First Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck-5.
    11. Jennifer L. Doleac, 2023. "Encouraging Desistance from Crime," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(2), pages 383-427, June.
    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. Polachek, Solomon W., 2008. "Earnings Over the Life Cycle: The Mincer Earnings Function and Its Applications," Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, now publishers, vol. 4(3), pages 165-272, April.
    2. Solomon Polachek, 2003. "Mincer's Overtaking Point and the Life Cycle Earnings Distribution," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 1(4), pages 273-304, December.
    3. Barry R. Chiswick, 2006. "Jacob Mincer, Experience and the Distribution of Earnings," Springer Books, in: Shoshana Grossbard (ed.), Jacob Mincer A Pioneer of Modern Labor Economics, chapter 10, pages 109-126, Springer.
    4. Das, Tirthatanmoy & Polachek, Solomon, 2017. "Micro Foundations of Earnings Differences," IZA Discussion Papers 10922, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Cunha, Flavio & Heckman, James J., 2007. "Identifying and Estimating the Distributions of Ex Post and Ex Ante Returns to Schooling," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 870-893, December.
    6. Vachaspati Shukla & Udaya S. Mishra, 0. "Expansion in Education and Its Impact on Income Inequality: Cross-sectional Evidence from India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 0, pages 1-32.
    7. Vachaspati Shukla & Udaya S. Mishra, 2020. "Expansion in Education and Its Impact on Income Inequality: Cross-sectional Evidence from India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(2), pages 331-362, June.
    8. Napari, Sami, . "Essays on the Gender Wage Gap in Finland," ETLA A, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy, number 44, June.
    9. Sami Napari, 2008. "The Early‐career Gender Wage Gap among University Graduates in the Finnish Private Sector," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 22(4), pages 697-733, December.
    10. Oskar Skans & Linus Liljeberg, 2014. "The wage effects of subsidized career breaks," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 593-617, September.
    11. Joaquin Turmo-Garuz & M.-Teresa Bartual-Figueras & Francisco-Javier Sierra-Martinez, 2019. "Factors Associated with Overeducation Among Recent Graduates During Labour Market Integration: The Case of Catalonia (Spain)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 1273-1301, August.
    12. Andrew Chesher, 2003. "Nonparametric identification with discrete endogenous variables," CeMMAP working papers 06/03, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    13. Parla Onuk & Yılmaz Aydin, 2024. "Gender gap and the labour market structure: A neoclassical approach for the case of Turkiye," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(5), pages 4627-4640, October.
    14. Alan Manning & Joanna Swaffield, 2008. "The gender gap in early-career wage growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(530), pages 983-1024, July.
    15. Molina, José Alberto & Montuenga, Víctor M., 2008. "The Motherhood Wage Penalty in a Mediterranean Country: The Case of Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 3574, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Garcia-Aracil, Adela & Winter, Carolyn, 2006. "Gender and ethnicity differentials in school attainment and labor market earnings in Ecuador," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 289-307, February.
    17. M. Ángeles Díaz & Rosario Sánchez, 2013. "Young Workers, Marital Status And Wage Gap," Revista de Economia Aplicada, Universidad de Zaragoza, Departamento de Estructura Economica y Economia Publica, vol. 21(1), pages 57-70, Spring.
    18. El-Shal, Amira & Cubi-Molla, Patricia & Jofre-Bonet, Mireia, 2021. "Are user fees in health care always evil? Evidence from family planning, maternal, and child health services," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 506-529.
    19. Xinxin Ma & Ichiro Iwasaki, 2021. "Return to schooling in China: a large meta-analysis," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 379-410, July.
    20. Daniele Checchi, 2001. "Education, Inequality and Income Inequality," STICERD - Distributional Analysis Research Programme Papers 52, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J46 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Informal Labor Market
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • B29 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Other

    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:taf:edecon:v:32:y:2024:i:5:p:566-580. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CEDE20 .

    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.