Compulsory Education and the Benefits of Schooling

26 Pages Posted: 30 Aug 2013 Last revised: 5 Jun 2022

See all articles by Melvin Stephens

Melvin Stephens

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Dou-Yan Yang

Carnegie Mellon University - H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management

Date Written: August 2013

Abstract

Causal estimates of the benefits of increased schooling using U.S. state schooling laws as instruments typically rely on specifications which assume common trends across states in the factors affecting different birth cohorts. Differential changes across states during this period, such as relative school quality improvements, suggest that this assumption may fail to hold. Across a number of outcomes including wages, unemployment, and divorce, we find that statistically significant causal estimates become insignificant and, in many instances, wrong-signed when allowing year of birth effects to vary across regions.

Suggested Citation

Stephens, Melvin and Yang, Dou-Yan, Compulsory Education and the Benefits of Schooling (August 2013). NBER Working Paper No. w19369, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2318272

Melvin Stephens (Contact Author)

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Department of Economics ( email )

Ann Arbor, MI
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Dou-Yan Yang

Carnegie Mellon University - H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management ( email )

Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
United States

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