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Is there a premium for elite college education: evidence from a natural experiment in Japan

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  • Taejong Kim

Abstract

In a dramatic move to confront the prolonged and often violent student protests on college campuses, the Japanese government ordered that every student repeat the school year at the University of Tokyo in 1969. The move had the inadvertent effect of denying those graduating from high school in that year an opportunity to seek admission to the nation's foremost institution of higher education. This paper uses the highly unusual event as a natural experiment, and examines whether graduates from the elite Tokyo university receive a preferential treatment in hiring and promotion in the high civil service. As a result of the 1969 incident, the entering class in the high civil service four years later in 1973 included a significantly lower proportion of graduates from the University of Tokyo, the traditionally predominant provider of elite bureaucrats, than in usual years. Comparing the career paths of the entering class of 1973 with those of adjacent cohorts, we do find some evidence that where one went to school may matter in the hiring stage, but no significant evidence for a similar favoritism in promotion in later stages.

Suggested Citation

  • Taejong Kim, 2004. "Is there a premium for elite college education: evidence from a natural experiment in Japan," Econometric Society 2004 Far Eastern Meetings 792, Econometric Society.
  • Handle: RePEc:ecm:feam04:792
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    File URL: http://repec.org/esFEAM04/up.3461.1084444902.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Behrman, Jere R & Rosenzweig, Mark R & Taubman, Paul, 1996. "College Choice and Wages: Estimates Using Data on Female Twins," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(4), pages 672-685, November.
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    6. Eide, Eric & Brewer, Dominic J. & Ehrenberg, Ronald G., 1998. "Does it pay to attend an elite private college? Evidence on the effects of undergraduate college quality on graduate school attendance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 371-376, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kawaguchi, Daiji & Ma, Wenjie, 2008. "The causal effect of graduating from a top university on promotion: Evidence from the University of Tokyo's 1969 admission freeze," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 184-196, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    human capital; credentialism; college education; natural experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J4 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets

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