School Starting Age and the Gender Pay Gap over the Life Cycle

Kamila Cygan-Rehm () and Matthias Westphal
Additional contact information
Kamila Cygan-Rehm: Dresden University of Technology (TUD)

No 18503, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: This paper replicates and extends the evidence on the lifetime effects of school starting age on earnings by Fredriksson and Öckert (2014) for Sweden. Using German data for individuals born between 1945 and 1965, we examine a more rigid system of ability tracking in secondary education, a potential driver of long-term effects. We confirm negligible effects of later school entry for men and positive effects for women. These gender differences arise despite similar effects on educational attainment. By unfolding the gender gaps over the lifecycle, assessing fertility decisions, and maternal employment around the first birth, we show that childbirth postponement and increased labor market attachment after the first birth seem to be plausible mechanisms.

Keywords: school starting age; lifetime effects; education; gender gaps (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I24 I26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-03
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp18503.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: School Starting Age and the Gender Pay Gap over the Life Cycle (2025)
Working Paper: School starting age and the gender pay gap over the life cycle (2024)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18503

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mark Fallak ().