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dc.contributor.authorCard, Daviden_US
dc.date.accessioned2011-10-26T01:58:12Z-
dc.date.available2011-10-26T01:58:12Z-
dc.date.issued1993-07-01T00:00:00Zen_US
dc.identifier.citationIn L.N. Christofides, E.K. Grant, and R. Swidinsky, (eds.), Aspects of Labor Market Behavior: Essays in Honour of John Vandercamp. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01fb494842g-
dc.description.abstractAlthough schooling and earnings are highly correlated, social scientists have argued for decades over the causal effect of education. A convincing analysis of the causal link between education and earnings requires an exogenous source of variation in education outcomes. This paper explores the use of college proximity as an exogenous determinant of schooling. An examination of the NLS Young Men Cohort reveals that men who grew up in local labor markets with a nearby college have significantly higher education and significantly higher earnings than other men. The education and earnings gains are concentrated among men with poorly- educated parents -- men who would otherwise stop schooling at relatively low levels. When college proximity is taken as an exogenous determinant of schooling the implied instrumental variables estimates of the return to schooling are 25-60% higher than conventional ordinary least squares estimates. Since the effect of a nearby college on schooling attainment varies by family background it is possible to test whether college proximity is a legitimately exogenous determinant of schooling. The results affirm that marginal returns to education among children of less-educated parents are as high and perhaps much higher than the rates of return estimated by conventional methods.en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesWorking Papers (Princeton University. Industrial Relations Section) ; 317en_US
dc.subjectreturn to educationen_US
dc.subjectcollege attendanceen_US
dc.subjectfamily backgrounden_US
dc.subjectNLSen_US
dc.subjectyoung menen_US
dc.titleUsing Geographic Variation in College Proximity to Estimate the Return to Schoolingen_US
dc.typeWorking Paperen_US
pu.projectgrantnumber360-2050en_US
Appears in Collections:IRS Working Papers

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