Students' expectations of the economic returns to college education Results of a controlled experiment

Anabela Botelho and Ligia Pinto

No 27, NIMA Working Papers from Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho

Abstract: This study reports the results of an experiment designed to elicit students' subjective beliefs about the economic returns to college education. An important feature of our experimental design is the inclusion of financial incentives for accurate reporting. We also consider the extent to which individuals' beliefs about their own returns differ from their beliefs about the returns for others. The evidence shows that students do have a self-enhancement tendency, and this finding cannot be attributed to previously uncontrolled order effects. The evidence also indicates that there is no significant difference between beliefs elicited using hypothetical surveys or real financial incentives in the elicitation procedure. This finding suggests that economists' reluctance to gather subjective data on earnings expectations may not be warrant.

Keywords: rate of return; human capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 I20 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2003-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-exp and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Journal Article: Students' expectations of the economic returns to college education: results of a controlled experiment (2004)
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