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Title: College Attendance, Vocational Training, Labor Supply and Wages: A Dynamic Empirical Model of Endogenous Human Capital Accumulation
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Surette, Brian J.
College Attendance, Vocational Training, Labor Supply and Wages: A Dynamic Empirical Model of Endogenous Human Capital Accumulation
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1995
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): College Education; Colleges; Endogeneity; Human Capital; Labor Supply; Modeling; Schooling, Post-secondary; Tuition; Vocational Training; Wages

This dissertation estimates the overall effects of post-secondary education using a unified, dynamic empirical model of two- and four-year college choice, training participation, labor supply, and wages. Applying this model to a panel of data drawn from the NLSY reveals that: (1) Wage benefits from two-year college attendance accrue only to students who complete an Associates Degree, (2) Both four-year credits and Bachelors Degree completion raise wages, (3) One hour of vocational training and one hour of labor market experience provide similar, positive wage benefits, (4) Two-year college attendance helps students transfer to and succeed in four-year college, (5) Four-year college students are more likely to obtain subsequent on-the job training, (6) Completing a Bachelors Degree raises the probability of employment, and (7) Both two- and four-year college decisions are sensitive to tuition changes. To illustrate the sensitivity of college attendance behavior this study simulates the effects of 50 percent reductions in two- and four-year tuition. This provides one method of inducing exogenous changes in college attendance rates and evaluating each schools' impacts on subsequent labor market and college attendance outcomes. The simulations show that while the two-year tuition reduction would raise two-year college attendance and the number of Associates Degrees completed, it would reduce completed four-year credits and the number of Bachelors Degrees earned. In other words, the tuition reduction causes individuals to substitute away from the most profitable types of human capital. By contrast, the four-year tuition reduction would cause an increase in four-year attendance, completed four-year credits, Bachelors Degree completion, and would raise wages and employment rates. The empirical model incorporates lagged dependent variables asregressors. Semiparametric, discrete factor random effects estimators are used to control for the influence of unobserved variables that give rise to the potential endogeneity of these previous outcomes. A comparison of results from models estimated with and without these controls demonstrates the importance of controlling for unobserved heterogeneity.
Bibliography Citation
Surette, Brian J. College Attendance, Vocational Training, Labor Supply and Wages: A Dynamic Empirical Model of Endogenous Human Capital Accumulation. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1995.