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Author: Keller, Elisa
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Keller, Elisa
Essays on Schooling, Occupations, and Earnings
Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, University of Iowa, 2013.
Also: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/2541/
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Iowa
Keyword(s): College Education; Educational Attainment; Gender Differences; Occupations; Wage Gap

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This thesis consists of two chapters. The first chapter investigates the causes of the recent slowdown in college attainment in the United States. The second chapter studies the gender wage gap by occupational complexity.
Bibliography Citation
Keller, Elisa. Essays on Schooling, Occupations, and Earnings. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, University of Iowa, 2013..
2. Keller, Elisa
The Slowdown in American Educational Attainment
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 46 (September 2014): 252-270.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165188914001705
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): College Degree; Earnings; Educational Attainment; High School Completion/Graduates; Human Capital

Relative to those for high school graduates, lifetime earnings for college graduates are higher for more recent cohorts. At the same time, across successive cohorts born after 1950, there is a stagnation in the fraction of high school graduates that go on to complete a college degree. What explains this phenomenon? I formulate a life-cycle model of human capital accumulation in college and on the job, where successive cohorts decide whether or not to acquire a college degree as well as the quality of their college education. Cohorts differ by the sequence of rental price per unit of human capital they face and by the distribution of initial human capital across individuals. My model reproduces the observed pattern in college attainment for the 1920 to 1970 birth cohorts. The stagnation in college attainment is due to the decrease in the growth rate of the rental price per unit of human capital commencing in the 1970s. My model also generates about 80% of the increase in lifetime earnings for college graduates relative to those for high school graduates observed across cohorts.
Bibliography Citation
Keller, Elisa. "The Slowdown in American Educational Attainment." Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 46 (September 2014): 252-270.