University Admission and the Similarity of Fields of Study: Effects on Earnings and Skill Usage

Moira Daly; Mathias Fjællegaard Jensen; Daniel le Maire

doi:10.1016/j.labeco.2022.102118

University Admission and the Similarity of Fields of Study: Effects on Earnings and Skill Usage

Moira Daly^*, Mathias Fjællegaard Jensen, Daniel le Maire

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Using discontinuities from the Danish college enrollment system, we find that students who are marginally accepted into their preferred program in a broad field that is different from their next-best choice (e.g., business rather than science) experience significant and long-lasting rewards as a result. In contrast, students whose preferred and next-best programs lie within the same broad field do not. Exploiting data from online job postings, we find that the estimated effects on skill usage similarly vary according to the degree of similarity between preferred and next-best choices.

Original language	English
Article number	102118
Journal	Labour Economics
Volume	75
Number of pages	15
ISSN	0927-5371
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2022.102118
Publication status	Published - Apr 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We are grateful for the help and comments of Mikael Andersen, Fane Groes, Simon Jäger, Søren Leth-Petersen, Tore Olsen, Dario Pozzoli, Anders Sørensen, and members of the Copenhagen Education Network. We would also like to thank our research assistant, Oliver-Alexander Press. This work was supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation grant number NNF16OC0021056 .

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022

Keywords

earnings
Field of study
online job postings
regression discontinuity
skills

Access to Document

10.1016/j.labeco.2022.102118Licence: CC BY

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abstract = "Using discontinuities from the Danish college enrollment system, we find that students who are marginally accepted into their preferred program in a broad field that is different from their next-best choice (e.g., business rather than science) experience significant and long-lasting rewards as a result. In contrast, students whose preferred and next-best programs lie within the same broad field do not. Exploiting data from online job postings, we find that the estimated effects on skill usage similarly vary according to the degree of similarity between preferred and next-best choices.",

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AU - le Maire, Daniel

N1 - Funding Information: We are grateful for the help and comments of Mikael Andersen, Fane Groes, Simon Jäger, Søren Leth-Petersen, Tore Olsen, Dario Pozzoli, Anders Sørensen, and members of the Copenhagen Education Network. We would also like to thank our research assistant, Oliver-Alexander Press. This work was supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation grant number NNF16OC0021056 . Publisher Copyright: © 2022

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AB - Using discontinuities from the Danish college enrollment system, we find that students who are marginally accepted into their preferred program in a broad field that is different from their next-best choice (e.g., business rather than science) experience significant and long-lasting rewards as a result. In contrast, students whose preferred and next-best programs lie within the same broad field do not. Exploiting data from online job postings, we find that the estimated effects on skill usage similarly vary according to the degree of similarity between preferred and next-best choices.

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KW - Field of study

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KW - regression discontinuity

KW - skills

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M1 - 102118

ER -

University Admission and the Similarity of Fields of Study: Effects on Earnings and Skill Usage

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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