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Title: Dynamics of Educational Attainment for Blacks, Whites and Hispanics
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Cameron, Stephen V. Heckman, James J. |
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Dynamics of Educational Attainment for Blacks, Whites and Hispanics Working Paper, University of Chicago, April 1992 Cohort(s): NLSY79 Publisher: Author Keyword(s): Black Studies; College Enrollment; Current Population Survey (CPS) / CPS-Fertility Supplement; Educational Attainment; Ethnic Groups/Ethnicity; Ethnic Studies; Family Background and Culture; Family Income; Hispanics; Parental Influences; Tuition Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. [First draft: September 1991] This paper examines the role of family background, family income, labor market opportunities and college tuition in accounting for differences in educational attainment by age among black, white and Hispanic males. This study differs from the previous literature in two important ways. (1) Previous influential work by Hauser (1991), Kane (1990) and others is based on Current Population Survey (CPS) data. These data suffer from major limitations of special importance to analyses of the role of family background on educational choices. The CPS data report parental family characteristics of persons only if they are living in the parental home, or, for those attending college, for those living in group quarters. Parental background and income information is not available for nonstudents not living with parents or for students not living in group quarters. Virtually all of the evidence on the importance of family background and family income on schooling choices is derived from samples of "dependents" i.e. persons living in the parental home or students in college living in group quarters. Using the NLSY (National Longitudinal Survey of Youth) data we demonstrate that as a consequence of this data generation process previous studies tend to underestimate the contribution of family income and financial resources to schooling decisions. (2) The NLSY data contain richer background information than does the CPS data. We demonstrate the value of access to such information in accounting for schooling decisions. Exploiting the longitudinal structure of the NLSY data, we model educational choices as decisions made sequentially at each age. Unlike previous cross-sectional studies that focus attention on explaining years of schooling completed, we consider the determinants of educational choices at each age. |
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Bibliography Citation
Cameron, Stephen V. and James J. Heckman. "Dynamics of Educational Attainment for Blacks, Whites and Hispanics." Working Paper, University of Chicago, April 1992. |