Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/107521 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8735
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper evaluates whether the expansion of higher education is economically worthwhile based on a recent surge in the number of campuses and college graduates in Russia. Our empirical strategy relies on the marginal treatment effect method in both normal and semi‐parametric versions, and estimating policy‐influenced treatment parameters for the marginal students who are directly affected by college expansion. We use high‐quality panel data with multiple wage observations, many birth cohorts, disaggregated location information, and past economic conditions. We find that college expansion attracts individuals with lower returns to college, but the returns for marginal students vary considerably depending on the scale of expansion and the type of location where new campuses are opened. Marginal individuals in smaller cities and locations without college campuses receive the largest benefits from new campuses. The results provide important implications for the design of policies targeting the expansion of higher education.
Subjects: 
education
returns to college
marginal treatment effect
policy‐relevant treatment effect
local instrumental variable
selection bias
college expansion
Russia
JEL: 
J31
I21
P36
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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