The Academic and Labor Market Returns of University Professors

Michela Braga (), Marco Paccagnella and Michele Pellizzari

No 7902, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper estimates the impact of college teaching on students' academic achievement and labor market outcomes using administrative data from Bocconi University (Italy) matched with Italian tax records. The estimation exploits the random allocation of students to teachers in a fixed sequence of compulsory courses. We find that good teaching matters more for the labor market than for academic performance. Moreover, the professors who are best at improving the academic achievement of their best students are also the ones who boost their earnings the most. On the contrary, for low ability students the academic and labor market returns of teachers are largely uncorrelated. We also find that professors who are good at teaching high ability students are often not the best teachers for the least able ones. These findings can be rationalized in a model where teaching is a multi-dimensional activity with each dimension having differential returns on the students' academic outcomes and labor market success.

Keywords: higher education; teacher quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 M55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2014-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-lab and nep-sog
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published - published in: Journal of Labor Economics, 2016, 34 (3), 781-822.

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Related works:
Working Paper: The academic and labor market returns of university professors (2014)
Working Paper: The academic and labor market returns of university professors (2014)
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