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Title: A Human Capital Model of the Effects of Ability and Family Background on Optimal Schooling Levels
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Regan, Tracy Lynn
Oaxaca, Ronald L.
Burghardt, Galen
A Human Capital Model of the Effects of Ability and Family Background on Optimal Schooling Levels
Economic Inquiry 45,4 (October 2007): 721-738.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-7295.2007.00058.x/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Western Economic Association International
Keyword(s): Earnings; Education; Educational Attainment; Family Background and Culture; Human Capital; Modeling; Occupational Choice; Schooling; Skills; Wage Levels; Wealth; Work Experience

This paper develops a theoretical model of optimal schooling levels where ability and family background are the central explanatory variables. We derive schooling demand and supply functions based on individual wealth maximization. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 data, we stratify our sample into 1-year full-time equivalent (FTE) work experience cohorts for 1985-1989. The estimated Mincerian "overtaking" cohort (the years of work experience at which individuals' observed earnings approximately equal what they would have been based on schooling and ability alone) corresponds to 13 FTE years of experience, yielding on average a rate of return of 10.3% and an average (optimal) 11.4 yr of schooling.
Bibliography Citation
Regan, Tracy Lynn, Ronald L. Oaxaca and Galen Burghardt. "A Human Capital Model of the Effects of Ability and Family Background on Optimal Schooling Levels." Economic Inquiry 45,4 (October 2007): 721-738.