To make high-quality research more accessible and easier to explore.

Fields:
4 results

Attrition from Administrative Data: Problems and Solutions with an Application to Postsecondary Education

Andrew Foote; Kevin Stange
The Review of Economics and Statistics 2026
This paper documents the bias introduced by attrition of individuals from administrative data with an application to the labor market consequences of postsecondary education. Attrition due to crossstate migration is non-trivial, particularly for high-earners, graduates from selective universities, and certain majors. Consequently, the premium associated with graduating from a most selective university is 23% higher than in-state earnings suggests, though this magnitude differs across context. The impact of obtaining a 2-year CTE credential is also understated, as are earnings differences across majors. Differences in missingness are systematically related to bias in measurement; we evaluate approaches to quantifying that bias.

College as Country Club: Do Colleges Cater to Students’ Preferences for Consumption?

Brian Jacob; Brian P. McCall; Kevin Stange
Journal of Labor Economics 2018 36(2), 309-348
This paper investigates whether demand-side market pressure explains colleges’ decisions to provide consumption amenities to their students. Using a discrete choice model of college demand, we find that most students appear to value consumption amenities, such as operating spending on student activities, sports, and dormitories, while the taste for academic quality is confined to high-achieving students. Heterogeneity in student preferences creates variation in demand pressure across institutions, which we estimate can account for 11% of the total variation in the ratio of amenity to academic spending across 4-year colleges in the United States.

The Returns to College Major Choice: Average and Distributional Effects, Career Trajectories, and Earnings Variability

Rodney Andrews; Scott Imberman; Michael F. Lovenheim; Kevin Stange
The Review of Economics and Statistics 2024
A growing literature examining labor market returns to college major is motivated by large returns to skill. Prior research focuses on mean effects rather than earnings growth and variability. Using administrative data from Texas, we find that mean differences mask important features of the returns to college majors. First, earnings growth varies across fields. Second, there is considerable effect heterogeneity across workers. Third, major choice affects earnings variability within workers over time. We use our results to simulate a lifecyle utility model and compare mid-career utility and mean earnings returns across fields while highlighting the important role of risk preferences.

Why Is Math Cheaper than English? Understanding Cost Differences in Higher Education

Steven W. Hemelt; Kevin Stange; Fernando Furquim; Andrew Simon; John E. Sawyer
Journal of Labor Economics 2021 39(2), 397-435
This paper establishes five new facts about instructional costs in higher education using department-level data from a broad range of institutions. Costs vary widely across fields, ranging from electrical engineering (90% higher than English) to math (25% lower). This pattern is largely explained by differences in class size and faculty pay. Some STEM fields experienced steep declines in expenditures over the past 17 years, while others saw increases. Changes in class size and teaching loads alongside a shift toward contingent faculty explain these trends. Finally, the association between online instruction and instructional costs is statistically indistinguishable from zero.