TY  - JOUR
AU  - Carneiro,Pedro
AU  - Heckman,James J.
TI  - The Evidence on Credit Constraints in Post-Secondary Schooling
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9055
PY  - 2002
Y2  - July 2002
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9055
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9055.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Pedro Carneiro
Department of Economics
University College
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
United Kingdom
E-Mail: p.carneiro@ucl.ac.uk

James J. Heckman
Department of Economics
The University of Chicago
1126 E. 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/702-0634
Fax: 773/702-8490
E-Mail: jjh@uchicago.edu
AB  - This paper examines the family income -- college enrollment relationship and the evidence on credit constraints in post-secondary schooling. We distinguish short-run liquidity constraints from the long-term factors that promote cognitive and noncognitive ability. Long-run factors crystallized in ability are the major determinants of the family income -- schooling relationship, although there is some evidence that up to 8% of the U.S. population is credit constrained in a short-run sense. Evidence that IV estimates of the returns to schooling exceed OLS estimates is sometimes claimed to support the existence of substantial credit constraints. This argument is critically examined.
ER  -