Are Return to Schooling Concentrated Among the Most Able? A Semiparametric Analysis of the Ability-Earnings Relationship.

In this paper, I explore the ability-earnings relationships semiparametrically. I find evidence of nonlinearities in these relationships which vary across levels of schooling, and argue that ability-sorting into higher education creates problems for accurately identifing the return to schooling over the full ability support. Over an ability support which is "common" to those with and without a college education, we find that the college log wage premium is increasing for the more able, and this premium grew during the period 1984-1994 for individuals at all points in the ability distribution.