This paper analyses the determinants of participation in higher education in West Germany. In particular, the role of social origin as well as of expectations regarding the labour market outcome of a higher education degree and of public educational policy are examined. The estimations are based...

In this paper, I analyze how the higher education decision of young adults in Germany depends on their expected future earnings. For this, I estimate a microeconometric model in which individuals maximize life-time utility by choosing whether or not to enter higher education. To forecast...

The German educational system is characterized by pronounced educational disparities based on the parental socioeconomic status. Despite the rather strong stratification of the secondary school sys-tem and social selection into obtaining the university entrance qualification, the transition to...