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Do Returns to Schooling Differ by Race and Ethnicity?

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Listed:
  • Lisa Barrow
  • Cecilia Elena Rouse
Abstract
Using data from the U.S. Decennial Census and the National Longitudinal Surveys, we find little evidence of differences in the return to schooling across racial and ethnic groups, even with attempts to control for ability and measurement error biases. While our point estimates are relatively similar across racial and ethnic groups, our conclusion is driven in part by relatively large standard errors. ; That said, we find no evidence that returns to schooling are lower for African Americans or Hispanics than for non-minorities. As a result, policies that increase education among the low-skilled have a good possibility of increasing economic well-being and reducing inequality. More generally, our analysis suggests further research is needed to better understand the nature of measurement error and ability bias across subgroups in order to fully understand potential heterogeneity in the return to schooling across the population.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa Barrow & Cecilia Elena Rouse, 2005. "Do Returns to Schooling Differ by Race and Ethnicity?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 83-87, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:95:y:2005:i:2:p:83-87
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/000282805774670130
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    2. Lisa Barrow & Cecilia Elena Rouse, 2005. "Do Returns to Schooling Differ by Race and Ethnicity?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 83-87, May.
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    22. Orley Ashenfelter & Cecilia Rouse, 1998. "Income, Schooling, and Ability: Evidence from a New Sample of Identical Twins," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(1), pages 253-284.
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    Cited by:

    1. Martin Nordin & Dan-Olof Rooth, 2014. "Increasing Returns to Schooling by Ability? A Comparison between the USA and Sweden," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82, pages 1-20, December.
    2. Oliver Cassagneau-Francis, 2022. "Revisiting the Returns to Higher Education: Heterogeneity by Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Abilities," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-04067399, HAL.
    3. Mehmet Soytas & Limor Golan & George-Levi Gayle, 2014. "What Accounts for the Racial Gap in Time Allocation and Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital?," 2014 Meeting Papers 83, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. Chiappori, Pierre-André & Oreffice, Sonia & Quintana-Domeque, Climent, 2016. "Black–White Marital Matching: Race, Anthropometrics, And Socioeconomics," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(4), pages 399-421, December.
    5. Lisa Barrow & Cecilia Elena Rouse, 2005. "Do Returns to Schooling Differ by Race and Ethnicity?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 83-87, May.
    6. Philippe Belley & Lance Lochner, 2007. "The Changing Role of Family Income and Ability in Determining Educational Achievement," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 37-89.
    7. Hande Inanc & Ariella Spitzer & Brian Goesling, "undated". "Assessing the Benefits of the Success Sequence for Economic Self-Sufficiency and Family Stability," Mathematica Policy Research Reports c812f6cb5ece40df8265d7eaa, Mathematica Policy Research.
    8. Steven J. Haider & Kathleen McGarry, 2018. "Parental Investments in College and Later Cash Transfers," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(5), pages 1705-1725, October.
    9. Leslie S Stratton & James N. Wetzel, 2008. "Increasing Returns to Education and Progress towards a College Degree," Working Papers 0805, VCU School of Business, Department of Economics.
    10. Jason Fletcher, 2013. "Social Interactions And College Enrollment: Evidence From The National Education Longitudinal Study," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 31(4), pages 762-778, October.
    11. Hua Zan & Jessie X. Fan & Benvin Lozada, 2024. "The economic disparity between Hispanic and non‐Hispanic White households: An analysis of middle‐class achievement," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 83(1), pages 93-107, January.
    12. Serge Atherwood & Corey S Sparks, 2019. "Early-career trajectories of young workers in the U.S. in the context of the 2008–09 recession: The effect of labor market entry timing," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-30, March.
    13. Nathan Canen & Kyungchul Song, 2021. "Counterfactual analysis under partial identification using locally robust refinement," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(4), pages 416-436, June.
    14. Anchor, John R. & Fiserová, Jana & Mars[iota]ková, Katerina & Urbánek, Václav, 2011. "Student expectations of the financial returns to higher education in the Czech Republic and England: Evidence from business schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 673-681, August.
    15. Ghazala Azmat & Jack Britton, 2024. "Labour Market Returns to Higher Education," Post-Print hal-04709561, HAL.
    16. Srikanth Ramamurthy & Norman Sedgley, 2015. "Human Capital Choice and the Wage Gap: The Role of Worklife Expectancy and Statistical Discrimination," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 175-187, June.
    17. Fan, Jing-bo & Zhang, Cheng-gang, 2015. "A study of the rate of return to higher engineering education in China," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 106-114.
    18. McIntyre, Frank & Simkovic, Michael, 2018. "Are law degrees as valuable to minorities?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 23-37.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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