Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/81480 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IFN Working Paper No. 806
Publisher: 
Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm
Abstract: 
Twins-based estimates of the return to schooling feature prominently in the labor economics literature. The validity of such estimates hinges critically on the assumption that within-pair variation in schooling is explained by factors which are unrelated to wage earning ability. This paper develops a framework for testing this assumption, and finds, using a unique dataset of monozygotic twins, strong evidence against it. Di¤erences in adolescent IQ test scores predict within-pair variation in educational attainment, and including IQ in the wage equation causes within-pair point estimates for the returns to schooling to decline significantly. Our results thus cast doubt on the validity of estimates derived from the co-twin literature.
Subjects: 
Returns to Schooling
Twins
Equal Ability Assumption
JEL: 
I21
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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