Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP13033
Authors: Elisabeth Artmann; Nadine Ketel; Hessel Oosterbeek; Bas van der Klaauw
Abstract: This paper uses administrative data from 16 cohorts of the Dutch population to study the relationship between field of study and family outcomes. We first document considerable variation by field of study for a range of family outcomes. To get to causal effects, we use admission lotteries that were conducted in the Netherlands to allocate seats for four substantially oversubscribed studies. We find that field of study matters for partner choice, which for women also implies an effect on partners' earnings. Fertility of women is not affected and evidence for men is mixed, but we find evidence for intergenerational effects on children's education. This means that field of study does not only affect individual labor market outcomes but also causally influences other important dimensions of a person's life.
Keywords: Higher Education; Study Choice; Returns to Education; Assortative Matching; Intergenerational Mobility
JEL Codes: I26; J12; J13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Field of study (Y80) | Partner choice (J12) |
| Field of study (Y80) | Assortative matching (C78) |
| Field of study (Y80) | Partner earnings (J54) |
| Field of study (Y80) | Fertility outcomes (J13) |
| Field of study (Y80) | Children's education (I21) |