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The Effects of School and Family Characteristics on the Return to Education

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  • Joseph G. Altonji
  • Thomas A. Dunn

Abstract

We measure the effects of parental education on the education profile of wages. The analysis uses sibling pairs from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience of Young Men and Young Women. We also use the variance across siblings in school characteristics to estimate the effects of school inputs on wages holding family background constant. We obtained mixed evidence on whether parental education raises the return to education. We find that teacher's salary, expenditures per pupil, and a composite index of school quality measures have a substantial positive effect on the wages of high school graduates.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph G. Altonji & Thomas A. Dunn, 1995. "The Effects of School and Family Characteristics on the Return to Education," NBER Working Papers 5072, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5072
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Brunello, Giorgio & Comi, Simona, 2004. "Education and earnings growth: evidence from 11 European countries," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 75-83, February.
    2. Maria Iacovou, 2002. "Class Size in the Early Years: Is Smaller Really Better?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 261-290.
    3. Thomas Bolli & Katherine Caves & Maria Esther Oswald-Egg, 2021. "Valuable Experience: How University Internships Affect Graduates’ Income," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 62(8), pages 1198-1247, December.
    4. Kenneth A. Couch & Thomas A. Dunn, 1997. "Intergenerational Correlations in Labor Market Status: A Comparison of the United States and Germany," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(1), pages 210-232.
    5. Maribel Castillo Caicedo & Ricardo David Monroy del Castillo & Viviana Cardona Ceballos, 2015. "Efecto universidad en el Valle del Cauca 2009: un análisis multinivel," Apuntes del Cenes, Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, June.
    6. Kermit Daniel & Dan Black & Jeffery Smith, 1996. "College Quality and the Wages of Young Men," HEW 9604001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Lykke Andersen, 2001. "Social Mobility in Latin America: Links with Adolescent Schooling," Research Department Publications 3130, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    8. Chen, Jie & Pastore, Francesco, 2021. ""Study hard and make progress every day": Updates on returns to education in China," GLO Discussion Paper Series 787, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Kathryn Wilson, 2000. "Using the Psid to Study the Effects of School Spending," Public Finance Review, , vol. 28(5), pages 428-451, September.
    10. Mihaela Iulia Pintea & Peter Thompson, 2007. "Technological Complexity and Economic Growth," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 10(2), pages 276-293, April.
    11. Mathias Huebener, 2012. "The Role of Family Risk Attitudes in Education and Intergenerational Mobility: An Empirical Analysis," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 529, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Will Dobbie & Roland G. Fryer Jr., 2013. "Getting beneath the Veil of Effective Schools: Evidence from New York City," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 28-60, October.
    13. Donald Robertson & James Symons, 1996. "Do peer Groups Matter? Peer Groups versus Schooling Effects on Academic Attainment," CEP Discussion Papers dp0311, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    14. Eide, Eric R. & Ronan, Nick, 2001. "Is participation in high school athletics an investment or a consumption good?: Evidence from high school and beyond," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 431-442, October.
    15. Kathryn Wilson, 2001. "The Determinants of Educational Attainment: Modeling and Estimating the Human Capital Model and Education Production Functions," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 67(3), pages 518-551, January.
    16. Pecchenino, Rowena A. & Pollard, Patricia S., 2002. "Dependent children and aged parents: funding education and social security in an aging economy," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 145-169, June.
    17. Andersen, Lykke Eg, 2000. "Social Mobility in Latin America," Documentos de trabajo 3/2000, Instituto de Investigaciones Socio-Económicas (IISEC), Universidad Católica Boliviana.
    18. J. R. Betts, "undated". "The impact of school resources on women's earnings and educational attainment: Findings from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1108-96, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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