NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

A Review of Estimates of the Schooling/Earnings Relationship, with Tests for Publication Bias

Orley Ashenfelter, Colm Harmon, Hessel Oosterbeek

NBER Working Paper No. 7457*
Issued in January 2000
NBER Program(s):   LS

In this paper we provide an analytical review of previous estimates of the rate of return on schooling investments and measure how these estimates vary by country, over time, and by estimation method. We find evidence reporting (or file drawer') bias in the estimates and, after due account is taken of this bias, we find that differences due to estimation method are much smaller than is sometimes reported, although some are statistically significant. We also find that estimated returns are higher in the U.S. and they have increased in the last two decades.

*Published: Labour Economics, Vol. 6, no. 4 (November 1999): 453-470.

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