 Occupations, fields of study and returns to educationCanadian Journal of Economics, 2014, vol. 47, issue 4, 1047-1077 Abstract: This paper considers several possible channels behind the welldocumented effect of education on earnings. The first channel is that education makes workers more productive on a given task, as in a conventional human capital framework. The second channel is based on the idea that education helps workers get assigned to higherpaying occupations where output is more sensitive to skill. A third and final channel is that workers are more productive and earn more when they are matched to a job related to their field of study. Using data from the 2005 National Graduate Survey and the 2006 Canadian Census, I find that channels two and three account for close to half of the conventionally measured return to education. The results indicate that the return to education varies greatly depending on occupation, field of study and the match between these two factors. JEL-codes: J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cje:issued:v:47:y:2014:i:4:p:1047-1077 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Canadian Journal of Economics is currently edited by Zhiqi Chen More articles in Canadian Journal of Economics from Canadian Economics Association Canadian Economics Association Prof. Werrner Antweiler, Treasurer UBC Sauder School of Business 2053 Main Mall Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2. Contact information at EDIRC. |
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