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Education, cognitive skills and earnings of males and females

Author

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  • Büchner, C.I.R.

    (Research Centre for Educ and Labour Mark)

  • Smits, W.
  • van der Velden, R.K.W.

    (Research Centre for Educ and Labour Mark)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between cognitive skills, measured at age 12, andearnings of males and females at the age of 35, conditional on their attained educationallevel. Employing a large data set that combines a longitudinal school cohort survey withincome data from Dutch national tax files, our findings show that cognitive skills andspecifically math skills are rewarded on the labor market, but more for females thanfor males. The main factor driving this result is that cognitive skills appear to be betterpredictors of schooling outcomes for males than for females. Once males have achievedthe higher levels of education, they more often choose programs with high earningperspectives like economics and engineering, even if their level of math skills is relativelylow.
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Suggested Citation

  • Büchner, C.I.R. & Smits, W. & van der Velden, R.K.W., 2012. "Education, cognitive skills and earnings of males and females," Research Memorandum 010, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    • Handle: RePEc:unm:umamet:2012010
    DOI: 10.26481/umamet.2012010
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    Cited by:

    1. Eric A. Hanushek & Babs Jacobs & Guido Schwerdt & Rolf van der Velden & Stan Vermeulen & Simon Wiederhold, 2021. "Where Do STEM Graduates Stem From? The Intergenerational Transmission of Comparative Skill Advantages," CESifo Working Paper Series 9388, CESifo.
    2. Eric A. Hanushek & Babs Jacobs & Guido Schwerdt & Rolf van der Velden & Stan Vermeulen & Simon Wiederhold, 2021. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Cognitive Skills: An Investigation of the Causal Impact of Families on Student Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 29450, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Schnepf, Sylke V., 2014. "Do Tertiary Dropout Students Really Not Succeed in European Labour Markets?," IZA Discussion Papers 8015, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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