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Educational Choices and Subjective Expectations of Returns - Woman and Public Policy Program

1,521 views · Published 12 January 2012 · 1:07:54 · Indexed 4 November 2026

Channel: Harvard University · 2012 · Education

Educational Choices and Subjective Expectations of Returns: Evidence on Intra-Household Decisions and Gender Differences

The goal of this paper is to improve our understanding of educational decisions in two dimensions: First, we investigate if determinants of schooling differ between male and female youths. In particular, we are interested in the role of expectations about monetary returns to schooling, perceived risks of earnings and unemployment for different schooling scenarios and returns to schooling in the marriage market. Second, we analyze the decision making process within the household with special focus on the role of the youth. We shed light on whose expectations matter in schooling decisions, the ones of the parents or the ones of the youths, and whether this depends on the gender of the youth. To address these questions we use a data set on Mexican junior and senior high school graduates that elicits their own and their parents' beliefs about future earnings for different scenarios of highest schooling degree. In addition we construct proxies for returns in the marriage market and have information about the actual schooling choice and an extensive set of controls. Speaker: Katja Kaufmann, WAPPP Fellow, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and IGIER, Bocconi University

Date: October 6, 2011

Educational Choices and Subjective Expectations of Returns - Woman and Public Policy Program

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