We consider the academic performance of Italian university graduates and their labour market position three years after graduation. Our data show that female students outperform male students in academia but are overcome in the labour market. Assuming that academic competition is fair and that...

Human Capital Theory considers individuals' education as an investment in terms of money, time, effort, and the renouncement of income opportunities that they expect will be compensated during their working life. While these benefits are mainly in the long run, direct and indirect costs are...

This paper investigates three dimensions of overeducation: incidence, impact on earnings and possible determinants. The analysis focuses on Italian graduates and refers to the cohort that graduated in 2007 using data from the AlmaLaurea survey on graduates' career paths. A new measure of...

This paper aims to survey the theoretical and empirical literature on cross-country differences in overeducation. While technological change and globalization have entailed a skill-bias in the evolution of labour demand in the Anglo-Saxon countries, instead, in other advanced economies in...