Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/217003 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 8252
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We investigate the short- and long-term effects of economic conditions at high-school graduation as a source of exogenous variation in the labor-market opportunities of potential college entrants. Exploiting business cycle fluctuations across birth cohorts for 28 developed countries, we find that bad economic conditions at high-school graduation increase college enrollment and graduation. They also affect outcomes in later life, increasing cognitive skills and improving labor-market success. Outcomes are affected only by the economic conditions at high-school graduation, but not by those during earlier or later years. Recessions at high-school graduation narrow the gender gaps in numeracy skills and labor-market success.
Subjects: 
business cycle
college enrollment
skill formation
labor-market outcomes
PIAAC
gender gap
JEL: 
I23
I21
J24
E32
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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