Information Provision and Postgraduate Studies

Jan Berkes (), Frauke Peter, Katharina Spiess () and Felix Weinhardt ()
Additional contact information
Jan Berkes: Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs

No 12735, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This is the first paper to experimentally examine effects of information provision on beliefs about pecuniary and non-pecuniary returns of postgraduate education, enrollment intentions and realized enrollment. We find that our treatment causally affects beliefs measured six month after treatment. The effects on beliefs differ by gender and academic background, and we find that stated enrollment intentions change accordingly: in particular males significantly adjust their beliefs and intentions to undertake postgraduate studies. We follow the students further and provide evidence on actual enrollment one year after treatment. Taken together, this study highlights the relevance of information provision on pecuniary and non-pecuniary labor market returns for postgraduate study decisions.

Keywords: RCT; postgraduate education; information; expectations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I24 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2019-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma and nep-ore
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published - published in: Economica, 2022, 89 (355), 627-646.

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Journal Article: Information Provision and Postgraduate Studies (2022)
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