TY  - JOUR
AU  - Brown,Charles
AU  - Corcoran,Mary
TI  - Sex-Based Differences in School Content and the Male/Female Wage Gap
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5580
PY  - 1996
Y2  - May 1996
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5580
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5580.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Charles C. Brown
Department of Economics
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1220
Tel: 734/763-3036
Fax: 734/647-1186
E-Mail: charlieb@umich.edu

Mary Corcoran
AB  - In high school and in college, men and women take significantly different courses.  Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and the National Longitudinal Study Class of 1972, we relate these differences in school content to sex differences in adult wages. Differences in field of highest degree account for a significant part of the male-female wage gap among college graduates, but differences in coursework account for very little of the equally large wage gap between men and women with less schooling.  We find little consistent evidence that men receive larger rewards for taking traditionally male rather than traditionally female courses and majors, though there is some indication of this for college graduates.
ER  -