NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Estimates of the Economic Return to Schooling from a New Sample of Twins

Alan Krueger, Orley Ashenfelter

NBER Working Paper No. 4143*
Issued in August 1992
NBER Program(s):   LS

This paper uses a new survey to contrast the wages of genetically identical twins with different schooling levels. Multiple measurements of schooling levels were also collected to assess the effect of reporting error on the estimated economic returns to schooling. The data indicate that omitted ability variables do not bias the estimated return to schooling upward, but that measurement error does bias it downward. Adjustment for measurement error indicates that an additional year of schooling increases wages by 16%, a higher estimate of the economic returns to schooling than has been previously found.

*Published: American Economic Review, December 1994, pp. 1157-1173.

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