A Question of Degree: The Effects of Degree Class on Labor Market Outcomes

Andy Feng and Georg Graetz

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: How does measured performance at university affect labor market outcomes? We show that degree class - a coarse measure of student performance used in the UK - causally affects graduates' industry and hence expected wages. To control for unobserved ability, we employ a regression discontinuity design that utilizes rules governing the award of degrees. A First Class (Upper Second) increases the probability of working in a high-wage industry by thirteen (eight) percentage points, and leads to three (seven) percent higher expected wages. The results point to the importance of statistical discrimination, heuristic decision making, and luck in the labor market.

Keywords: High skill wage inequality; regression discontinuity design; statistical discrimination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C26 I24 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Related works:
Journal Article: A question of degree: The effects of degree class on labor market outcomes (2017)
Working Paper: A Question of Degree: The Effects of Degree Class on Labor Market Outcomes (2015)
Working Paper: A question of degree: the effects of degree class on labor market outcomes (2013)
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