TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hansen,Karsten
AU  - Heckman,James J.
AU  - Mullen,Kathleen J.
TI  - The Effect of Schooling and Ability on Achievement Test Scores
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9881
PY  - 2003
Y2  - August 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9881
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9881.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
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

Kathleen Mullen
RAND Corporation
1776 Main Street
P.O. Box 2138
Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138
E-Mail: Kathleen_Mullen@rand.org
AB  - This paper develops two methods for estimating the effect of schooling on achievement test scores that control for the endogeneity of schooling by postulating that both schooling and test scores are generated by a common unobserved latent ability. These methods are applied to data on schooling and test scores. Estimates from the two methods are in close agreement. We find that the effects of schooling on test scores are roughly linear across schooling levels. The effects of schooling on measured test scores are slightly larger for lower latent ability levels. We find that schooling increases the AFQT score on average between 2 and 4 percentage points, roughly twice as large as the effect claimed by Herrnstein and Murray (1994) but in agreement with estimates produced by Neal and Johnson (1996) andWinship and Korenman (1997). We extend the previous literature by estimating the impact of schooling on measured test scores at various quantiles of the latent ability distribution.
ER  -