Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP15158
Authors: Kjell G. Salvanes; Richard William Blundell; Patrick Bennett
Abstract: Roughly one third of a cohort drop out of high school across OECD countries, and developingeffective tools to address prime-aged high school dropouts is a key policy question. We leveragehigh quality Norwegian register data, and for identification we exploit reforms enabling access tohigh school for adults above the age of 25. The paper finds that considerable increases in highschool completion and beyond among women lead to higher earnings, increased employment, anddecreased fertility. As male education remains unchanged by the reforms, later life educationreduces the pre-existing gender earnings gap by a considerable fraction.
Keywords: adult education; returns to education; fertility; gender inequality
JEL Codes: I26; I28; J13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Reform 1 (legal right to enroll in high school for individuals aged 25 and older) (I28) | High school completion rates among women (I21) |
| High school completion rates among women (I21) | Higher earnings (J31) |
| High school completion rates among women (I21) | Increased employment (J68) |
| High school completion rates among women (I21) | Decreased fertility (J13) |
| Increased educational attainment among women (I24) | Reduction in the preexisting gender earnings gap (J79) |
| Timing of education completion (I21) | Future educational attainment (I21) |
| Timing of education completion (I21) | Labor market outcomes (J48) |
| Higher probabilities of entering and completing higher education (I24) | Improved earnings relative to men (J31) |