Search Results

Author: Olson, Lawrence Smedley
Resulting in 3 citations.
1. Olson, Lawrence Smedley
Dropping Out Can Pay: A Study of Private Vocational Schooling
Mimeo, Data Resources, Inc., 1977
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: Data Resources, Inc.
Keyword(s): Earnings; Job Training; Mobility; Private Schools; Vocational Education

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

Evidence from a new, national study of private vocational schooling and its effects on the wage rates of young men shows that (1) private vocational schooling can permanently raise wages, but the longer a student attends vocational school the smaller is his subsequent wage increase. In fact, persons who take long programs may earn less than if they had received no training. (2) For most students, length of schooling, and not whether they complete programs, primarily determines the wages they receive. In other words, short programs are preferable to long programs, but government policy may be encouraging students to sign up for long vocational programs from which they subsequently drop out.
Bibliography Citation
Olson, Lawrence Smedley. "Dropping Out Can Pay: A Study of Private Vocational Schooling." Mimeo, Data Resources, Inc., 1977.
2. Olson, Lawrence Smedley
The Allocation of Time to Vocational School Training
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Chicago, 1976.
Also: http://openlibrary.org/works/OL3721010W/The_allocation_of_time_to_vocational_school_training
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Employment; Leisure; Part-Time Work; Simultaneity; Vocational Education; Vocational Training

Economic and statistical techniques are used to analyze training decisions, in which their longitudinal and simultaneous nature is emphasized. The study is set apart from all the rest because of the comprehensive structure and broad data base. The findings show that vocational school trainees spend more time in market activities and are highly motivated.For vocational trainees, age-wage profiles appear to be lower and flatter than those individuals who attend college.
Bibliography Citation
Olson, Lawrence Smedley. The Allocation of Time to Vocational School Training. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Chicago, 1976..
3. Olson, Lawrence Smedley
White, Halbert
Shefrin, H.M.
Optimal Investment in Schooling When Incomes are Risky
Journal of Political Economy 87,3 (June 1979): 522-539.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1832021
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Keyword(s): College Education; Earnings; Educational Returns; Schooling; Time Preference

This study demonstrates a tractable method for analyzing schooling investment with risky incomes. Constant relative risk aversion is assumed, and borrowing in a rudimentary capital market is allowed. A linear, variance- components model on log (real income) is estimated. Only unexplained variation is treated as a source of risk. Illustrative empirical results indicate that students should take either four years of college or none at all, depending on time preference, loan availability, and degree of risk aversion. Estimated risk-adjusted rates of return to college exceed 10 percent for some parameter values. Risk adjustments for college rates are small but positive.
Bibliography Citation
Olson, Lawrence Smedley, Halbert White and H.M. Shefrin. "Optimal Investment in Schooling When Incomes are Risky." Journal of Political Economy 87,3 (June 1979): 522-539.