How much does degree choice matter?

Buscha, F., Britton, J., van der Erve, L., Belfied, C., Vignoles, A., Dickson, M., Walker, I., Dearden, L. and Sibieta, L. 2022. How much does degree choice matter? Labour Economics. 79 102268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2022.102268

TitleHow much does degree choice matter?
TypeJournal article
AuthorsBuscha, F., Britton, J., van der Erve, L., Belfied, C., Vignoles, A., Dickson, M., Walker, I., Dearden, L. and Sibieta, L.
Abstract

We use a large and novel administrative dataset to investigate returns to different university ‘degrees’ (subject-institution combinations) in the United Kingdom. Conditioning on a rich set of background characteristics, we find substantial variation in returns across degrees with similar selectivity levels, suggesting students’ degree choices matter a lot for later-life earnings. Returns increase with university selectivity much more at the top of the selectivity distribution than further down, and much more for some subjects than others. Returns are poorly correlated with observable degree characteristics other than selectivity, which could have important implications for student choices and the incentives of universities.

Article number102268
JournalLabour Economics
Journal citation79
ISSN0927-5371
Year2022
PublisherElsevier
Publisher's version
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access Level
Open (open metadata and files)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2022.102268
Publication dates
Published online03 Oct 2022

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