Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/236417 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14386
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Higher education finance depends on the public's preferences for charging tuition, which may be partly based on beliefs about the university earnings premium. To test whether public support for tuition depends on earnings information, we devise survey experiments in representative samples of the German electorate (N>15,000). The electorate is divided, with a plurality opposing tuition. Providing information on the university earnings premium raises support for tuition by 7 percentage points, turning the plurality in favor. The opposition-reducing effect persists two weeks after treatment. Information on fiscal costs and unequal access does not affect public preferences. We subject the baseline result to various experimental tests of replicability, robustness, heterogeneity, and consequentiality.
Subjects: 
tuition
higher education
information
earnings premium
public opinion
voting
JEL: 
H52
I22
D72
D83
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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