Public systems of higher education have recently attempted to cut costs by providing financial incentives to institutions who reduce the diversity of their programs. We study the profit and welfare effects of reducing product diversity in higher education, against the background of a funding...

We explore evidence on the perceived economic value of higher education to college students in terms of their reported expected and shadow wages. Our estimates provide predictions for expected wages that are similar across gender and become closer to actual wages as students approach graduation....

This paper analyzes how high-ability students respond to different indicators of university quality when applying for a university. Are some quality dimensions of a ranking, e.g. research reputation or mentoring more important than others? I estimate a random utility model using administrative...

Using SOEP data (1984-2006) we analyze the role of parental background for transitions to tertiary education in Germany and answer three questions: (a) does the relevance of parental background shift from short-term (contemporary income) to long factors (ability, parental education) at higher...

The standard regression discontinuity (RD) design deals with a binary treatment. Manyempirical applications of RD designs involve continuous treatments. This paper establishesidentification and robust bias-corrected inference for such RD design. Causal identificationis achieved by utilizing any...

This paper analyzes how high-ability students respond to different indicators of university quality when applying for a university. Are some quality dimensions of a ranking, e.g. research reputation or mentoring more important than others? I estimate a random utility model using administrative...

We assess students' ability to forecast future earnings, by using data on expected wages self-reported by college students with different graduation horizons. We find a significant gender gap, by which wages expectations are systematically lower for women than for men. However, the gender gap in...

Although the number of graduates with a bachelor's degree has risen over recent years, little information is available as to which position such persons hold within an establishment and whether they compete on the career ladder with persons from the vocational sector with advanced further...

Public systems of higher education have recently attempted to cut costs by providing financial incentives to institutions who reduce the diversity of their programs. We study the profit and welfare effects of reducing product diversity in higher education, against the background of a funding...