The Value of Postsecondary Credentials in the Labor Market: An Experimental Study

David Deming, Noam Yuchtman, Amira Abulafi, Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz

No 20528, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We study employers’ perceptions of the value of postsecondary degrees using a field experiment. We randomly assign the sector and selectivity of institutions to fictitious resumes and apply to real vacancy postings for business and health jobs on a large online job board. We find that a business bachelor’s degree from a for-profit “online” institution is 22 percent less likely to receive a callback than one from a non-selective public institution. In applications to health jobs, we find that for-profit credentials receive fewer callbacks unless the job requires an external quality indicator such as an occupational license.

JEL-codes: I21 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-hrm, nep-lab and nep-ltv
Note: DAE ED LS
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Published as David J. Deming & Noam Yuchtman & Amira Abulafi & Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz, 2016. "The Value of Postsecondary Credentials in the Labor Market: An Experimental Study," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(3), pages 778-806, March.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w20528.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Value of Postsecondary Credentials in the Labor Market: An Experimental Study (2016)
Working Paper: The value of postsecondary credentials in the labor market: an experimental study (2016)
Working Paper: The Value of Postsecondary Credentials in the Labor Market: An Experimental Study (2016)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20528

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w20528

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().