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Money or Fun? Why Students Want to Pursue Further Education

Author

Listed:
  • Belfield, Chris

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London)

  • Boneva, Teodora

    (University of Bonn)

  • Rauh, Christopher

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Shaw, Jonathan

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London)

Abstract

We study students' motives for educational attainment in a unique survey of 885 secondary school students in the UK. As expected, students who perceive the monetary returns to education to be higher are more likely to intend to continue in full-time education. However, the main driver is the perceived consumption value, which alone explains around half of the variation of the intention to pursue higher education. Moreover, the perceived consumption value can account for a substantial part of both the socio-economic gap and the gender gap in intentions to continue in full-time education.

Suggested Citation

  • Belfield, Chris & Boneva, Teodora & Rauh, Christopher & Shaw, Jonathan, 2016. "Money or Fun? Why Students Want to Pursue Further Education," IZA Discussion Papers 10136, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10136
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    Cited by:

    1. Ana Figueiredo, 2017. "Uncertainty in education: The role of communities and social learning," 2017 Meeting Papers 529, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    2. Lergetporer, Philipp & Werner, Katharina & Woessmann, Ludger, 2018. "Does Ignorance of Economic Returns and Costs Explain the Educational Aspiration Gap? Evidence from Representative Survey Experiments," IZA Discussion Papers 11453, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Katharina Werner, 2019. "The Role of Information for Public Preferences on Education – Evidence from Representative Survey Experiments," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 82.
    4. Vaishali Zambre, 2018. "The Gender Gap in Wage Expectations: Do Young Women Trade off Higher Wages for Lower Wage Risk?," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1742, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Rauh, Christopher, 2017. "Voting, education, and the Great Gatsby Curve," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 1-14.
    6. Frauke H. Peter & C. Katharina Spieß & Vaishali Zambre, 2018. "Informing Students about College: An Efficient Way to Decrease the Socio-Economic Gap in Enrollment: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1770, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    7. Michael Bahrs & Thomas Siedler, 2019. "University Tuition Fees and High School Students’ Educational Intentions," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(2), pages 117-147, June.
    8. Philipp Lergetporer & Katharina Werner & Ludger Woessmann, 2021. "Does Ignorance of Economic Returns and Costs Explain the Educational Aspiration Gap? Representative Evidence from Adults and Adolescents," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(351), pages 624-670, July.
    9. Daniel Weimar & Markus Schauberger, 2018. "The impact of sporting success on student enrollment," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 88(6), pages 731-764, August.
    10. Ana Figueiredo, 2018. "Information Frictions in Education and Inequality," 2018 Meeting Papers 804, Society for Economic Dynamics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    education; perceived returns; consumption value of education; beliefs; higher education; UK; gender gap; income gradient;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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