Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/252087 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 9570
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
This paper studies the impact of exam luck on individuals' education and labor market success. We leverage unique features of the Norwegian education system that produce random variation in the content of the exams taken by students at the end of high school. Lucky students take exams in subjects they are better at, and we show that this generates significant improvements in both their high school GPA and diploma probability. Subsequently, exam luck generates substantial and persistent wage differentials across otherwise identical individuals. These luck-induced wage effects are of a similar magnitude as those generated by well-known education inputs, such as parental education and teacher quality.
Subjects: 
luck
fairness
wage differentials
returns to education
high-stakes exams
JEL: 
D63
H52
I21
I23
I24
I26
J24
J31
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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