Human Capital Investments and Expectations about Career and Family

Matthew Wiswall () and Basit Zafar

No 22543, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper studies how individuals "believe" human capital investments will affect their future career and family life. We conducted a survey of high-ability currently enrolled college students and elicited beliefs about how their choice of college major, and whether to complete their degree at all, would affect a wide array of future events, including future earnings, employment, marriage prospects, potential spousal characteristics, and fertility. We find that students perceive large "returns" to human capital not only in their own future earnings, but also in a number of other dimensions (such as future labor supply and potential spouse's earnings). In a recent follow-up survey conducted six years after the initial data collection, we find a close connection between the expectations and current realizations. Finally, we show that both the career and family expectations help explain human capital choices.

JEL-codes: D81 D84 I21 I23 J10 J12 J13 J16 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-edu, nep-hrm and nep-lma
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Published as Matthew Wiswall & Basit Zafar, 2021. "Human Capital Investments and Expectations about Career and Family," Journal of Political Economy, vol 129(5), pages 1361-1424.

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Working Paper: Human capital investments and expectations about career and family (2016)
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