Do returns to schooling differ by race and ethnicity?

Lisa Barrow and Cecilia Elena Rouse

No WP-05-02, Working Paper Series from Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Abstract: Using data from the U.S. Decennial Census and the National Longitudinal Surveys, we find little evidence of differences in the return to schooling across racial and ethnic groups, even with attempts to control for ability and measurement error biases. While our point estimates are relatively similar across racial and ethnic groups, our conclusion is driven in part by relatively large standard errors. ; That said, we find no evidence that returns to schooling are lower for African Americans or Hispanics than for non-minorities. As a result, policies that increase education among the low-skilled have a good possibility of increasing economic well-being and reducing inequality. More generally, our analysis suggests further research is needed to better understand the nature of measurement error and ability bias across subgroups in order to fully understand potential heterogeneity in the return to schooling across the population.

Keywords: Education; Employees, Training of (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Journal Article: Do Returns to Schooling Differ by Race and Ethnicity? (2005)
Working Paper: Do Returns to Schooling Differ by Race and Ethnicity? (2005)
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