Caught in the cycle: economic conditions at enrollment and labor market outcomes of college graduates

0493184 - NHÚ 2019 RIV CZ eng V - Research Report
Bičáková, Alena - Cortes, G. M. - Mazza, J.
Caught in the cycle: economic conditions at enrollment and labor market outcomes of college graduates.
Prague: CERGE-EI, 2018. 51 s. CERGE-EI Working Paper Series, 622. ISSN 1211-3298
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GBP402/12/G130
Institutional support: RVO:67985998
Keywords : business cycle * higher education * cohort effects
OECD category: Applied Economics, Econometrics
https://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/wp/Wp622.pdf

We find robust evidence that cohorts of graduates who enter college during worse economic
times earn higher average wages than those who enter during better times. This difference is
not explained by differences in economic conditions at the time of college graduation, changes
in _eld of study composition, or changes in selection into occupations or industries. Cohorts
who start college in bad times are not more positively selected based on their high-school
outcomes, but they graduate with higher college grades, and earn higher wages conditional on
their grades. Our results suggest that these cohorts exert more effort during their studies.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0286599