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College wage premium over time: trends in Europe in the last 15 years

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  • Elena Crivellaro

    (Department of Economics, University Of Venice C� Foscari)

Abstract

While there has been intense debate in the empirical literature over the evolution of the college wage premium in the United States, its evolution in Europe has received little attention. This paper investigates the causes of the evolution of the college wage premium in 12 european countries from 1994 to 2009. I use cross country variation in relative supply, demand, and labour market institutions to examine their effects on the trend in wage inequality. I address possible concerns of endogeneity of the relative supply using an IV strategy exploiting the differential legislations of university autonomy and their variations over time. In explaining the evolution of wage inequality, both market and non-market factors matter: an increase in relative supply decreases the college wage premium; the minimum wage also has a sign?cant and negative effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Elena Crivellaro, 2014. "College wage premium over time: trends in Europe in the last 15 years," Working Papers 2014:03, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    • Handle: RePEc:ven:wpaper:2014:03
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    3. Francis Green & Golo Henseke, 2021. "Europe’s evolving graduate labour markets: supply, demand, underemployment and pay," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 55(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. David Weisstanner & Klaus Armingeon, 2018. "How Redistributive Policies Reduce Market Inequality: Education Premiums in 22 OECD Countries," LIS Working papers 735, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    5. Timo Mitze & Nino Javakhishvili‐Larsen, 2020. "Graduate Migration and Early‐career Labor Market Outcomes: Do Education Programs and Qualification Levels Matter?," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 34(4), pages 477-503, December.
    6. Pedro Salas-Rojo & Juan Gabriel Rodríguez, 2019. "The distribution of wealth in the U.S. and Spain: the role of socio-economic factors," Working Papers 506, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    7. Esperanza Vera-Toscano & Elena C. Meroni, 2021. "An Age–Period–Cohort Approach to the Incidence and Evolution of Overeducation and Skills Mismatch," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 711-740, January.
    8. Heinesen, Eskil, 2018. "Admission to higher education programmes and student educational outcomes and earnings–Evidence from Denmark," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-19.
    9. Alain Trannoy, 2015. "Inequality and welfare: Is Europe special?," Working Papers 384, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    10. Thor Berger & Carl Benedikt Frey, 2016. "Structural Transformation in the OECD: Digitalisation, Deindustrialisation and the Future of Work," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 193, OECD Publishing.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    College wage premium; Inequality; Relative supply.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality

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