Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/250671 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15010
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper uses a college-by-graduate degree fixed effects estimator to evaluate the returns to 19 different graduate degrees for men and women. We find substantial variation across degrees, and evidence that OLS over-estimates the returns to degrees with the highest average earnings and underestimates the returns to degrees with the lowest average earnings. Second, we decompose the impacts on earnings into effects on wage rates and effects on hours. For most degrees, the earnings gains come from increased wage rates, though hours play an important role in some degrees, such as medicine, especially for women. Third, we estimate the net present value and internal rate of return for each degree, which account for the time and monetary costs of degrees. Finally, we provide descriptive evidence that satisfaction gains are large for some degrees with smaller economic returns, such as education and humanities degrees, especially for men.
Subjects: 
returns to graduate education
earnings
job satisfaction
gender differences
JEL: 
I21
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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