Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP5105
Authors: Jrn-Steffen Pischke; Till von Wachter
Abstract: We estimate the impact of compulsory schooling on earnings using the changes in compulsory schooling laws for secondary schools in West German states during the period from 1948 to 1970. While our research design is very similar to studies for various other countries, we find very different estimates of the returns. Most estimates in the literature indicate returns in the range of 10-15%. We find no return to compulsory schooling in Germany in terms of higher wages. We investigate whether this is due to labour market institutions or the existence of the apprenticeship training system in Germany, but find no evidence for these explanations. We conjecture that the result might be due to the fact that the basic skills most relevant for the labour market are learned earlier in Germany than in other countries.
Keywords: ability bias; human capital; returns to schooling; school leaving age
JEL Codes: I21; J24; J31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Labor market institutions and apprenticeship training (J24) | Returns to schooling (I26) |
| Institutional features of the German education system (I24) | Returns to schooling (I26) |
| Introduction of the 9th grade in Germany (A21) | Earnings (J31) |