Field of study and family outcomes

Nadine Ketel, Elisabeth Artmann, Hessel Oosterbeek and Bas van der Klaauw

No 13033, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: This paper uses administrative data from 16 cohorts of the Dutch population to study the relationship between field of study and family outcomes. We first document considerable variation by field of study for a range of family outcomes. To get to causal effects, we use admission lotteries that were conducted in the Netherlands to allocate seats for four substantially oversubscribed studies. We find that field of study matters for partner choice, which for women also implies an effect on partners' earnings. Fertility of women is not affected and evidence for men is mixed, but we find evidence for intergenerational effects on children's education. This means that field of study does not only affect individual labor market outcomes but also causally influences other important dimensions of a person's life.

Keywords: Higher education; Study choice; Returns to education; Assortative matching; Intergenerational mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I26 J12 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Field of study and family outcomes (2018)
Working Paper: Field of Study and Family Outcomes (2018)
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