Does Expert Advice Improve Educational Choice?

Lex Borghans, Bart Golsteyn () and Anders Stenberg

No 7649, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper reports evidence that an individual meeting with a study counselor at high school significantly improves the quality of choice of tertiary educational field, as self-assessed 18 months after graduation from college. The results are strongest among males and those with low educated parents. To address endogeneity, we explore the variation in study counseling practices between schools. Tentative analyses also indicate that counselors reduce students' uncertainty about their own individual preferences at least to the same extent as uncertainty about objective measures such as employment prospects.

Keywords: educational choice; human capital; uncertainty; study counseling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I2 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 65 pages
Date: 2013-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-hrm
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Forthcoming - published in: PLOS ONE, 2015, 10 (12)

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