A structural model of the demand for college attendance is derived from the theory of comparative advantage and recent statistical models of self-selection and unobserved components. Estimates from NBER-Thorndike data strongly support the theory. First, expected lifetime earnings gains influence...

The educational screening hypothesis states that beyond a certain point schooling functions as a signaling device to identify pre-existing talents. We test for the presence of screening by comparing the schooling and earnings of self-employed workers and of those employed by others in a sample...

Section I introduces the material. In section II a model is developed which explores the impact of input-quality uncertainty on factor demand from which is derived a rationale for the use of devices which segment the population into classes differing in their "skill" distribution parameters. The...