Who Benefits Most from a University Degree?: A Cross-National Comparison of Selection and Wage Returns in the US, UK, and Germany

Recent research on economic returns to higher education in the United States suggests that those with the highest wage returns to a college degree are least likely to obtain one. We extend the study of heterogeneous returns to tertiary education across multiple institutional contexts, investigating...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inResearch in higher education Vol. 58; no. 8; pp. 843 - 879
Main Authors Luthra, Renee Reichl, Flashman, Jennifer
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer 01.12.2017
Springer Netherlands
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
College Graduates
Comparative Analysis
Correlation
Costs
Cross Cultural Studies
Education
Educational Attainment
Foreign Countries
Higher Education
Paying for College
Salary Wage Differentials
United States
United Kingdom
Germany
United Kingdom > UK
United States > US
Wage returns
Returns to higher education
Selection
Cross-national comparison
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Summary:Recent research on economic returns to higher education in the United States suggests that those with the highest wage returns to a college degree are least likely to obtain one. We extend the study of heterogeneous returns to tertiary education across multiple institutional contexts, investigating how the relationship between wage returns and the propensity to complete a degree varies by the level of expansion, differentiation, and cost of higher education. Drawing on panel data and matching techniques, we compare findings from the US with selection into degree completion in Germany and the UK. Contrary to previous studies, we find little evidence for population level heterogeneity in economic returns to higher education.
ISSN:0361-0365
1573-188X
DOI:10.1007/s11162-017-9451-5