The Labor of Division: Returns to Compulsory High School Math Coursework

Joshua Goodman ()

Working Paper Series from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government

Abstract: Despite great focus on and public investment in STEM education, little causal evidence connects quantitative coursework to students' economic outcomes. I show that state changes in minimum high school math requirements substantially increase black students' completed math coursework and their later earnings. The marginal student's return to an additional math course is 10 percent, roughly half the return to a year of high school, and is partly explained by a shift toward more cognitively skilled occupations. Whites' coursework and earnings are unaffected. Rigorous standards for quantitative coursework can close meaningful portions of racial gaps in economic outcomes.

JEL-codes: I24 I28 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Labor of Division: Returns to Compulsory High School Math Coursework (2019)
Working Paper: The Labor of Division: Returns to Compulsory High School Math Coursework (2017)
Working Paper: The Labor of Division: Returns to Compulsory High School Math Coursework (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp17-004

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