Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/228422 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 20-319
Publisher: 
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, MI
Abstract: 
We conduct an empirical simulation exercise that gauges the plausible impact of increased rates of college attainment on a variety of measures of income inequality and economic insecurity. Using two different methodological approaches-a distributional approach and a causal parameter approach-we find that increased rates of bachelor's and associate degree attainment would meaningfully increase economic security for lower-income individuals, reduce poverty and near-poverty, and shrink gaps between the 90th and lower percentiles of the earnings distribution. However, increases in college attainment would not significantly reduce inequality at the very top of the distribution.
Subjects: 
education
college attainment
income inequality
earnings distribution
economic security poverty
JEL: 
I24
I26
I30
J21
J24
J31
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
993.84 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.