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on Education |
| By: | John N. Friedman; Bruce Sacerdote; Douglas O. Staiger; Michele Tine |
| Abstract: | We analyze admissions and transcript records for students at multiple Ivy-Plus colleges to study the relationship between standardized (SAT/ACT) test scores, high school GPA, and first-year college grades. Standardized test scores predict academic outcomes with a normalized slope four times greater than that from high school GPA, all conditional on students’ race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Standardized test scores also exhibit no calibration bias, as they do not underpredict college performance for students from less advantaged backgrounds. Collectively these results suggest that standardized test scores provide important information to measure applicants’ academic preparation that is not available elsewhere in the application file. |
| JEL: | I20 I23 I24 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33570 |
| By: | Barrios-Fernández, Andrés; Neilson, Christopher; Zimmerman, Seth |
| Abstract: | Do elite colleges help talented students join the social elite, or help incumbent elites retain their positions? We combine intergenerationally-linked data from Chile with a regression discontinuity design to show that, looking across generations, elite colleges do both. Lower-status individuals who gain admission to elite college programs transform their children's social environment. Children become more likely to attend high-status private schools and colleges, and to live near and befriend high-status peers. In contrast, academic achievement is unaffected. Simulations combining descriptive and quasi-experimental findings show that elite colleges tighten the link between social and human capital while decreasing intergenerational social mobility. |
| Keywords: | elite universities; intergenerational mobility; human capital; social capital |
| JEL: | D64 J62 I20 |
| Date: | 2024–08–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126793 |
| By: | Joseph Altonji; Zhengren Zhu |
| Abstract: | We estimate causal effects of 121 graduate degrees on log earnings. The returns average 0.159 but vary widely across fields, with a standard deviation of 0.176. Experience profiles of the returns also vary and are particularly steep for medicine. Internal rates of return, which account for program length, tuition, and in-school earnings, are sizable but vary less across fields. Earnings effects are higher for women, lower for part time students, and depend on undergraduate major. Students from lower-paying undergraduate majors benefit more from an MBA or JD. School specific returns are higher for higher ranked JD and MBA programs. |
| JEL: | D31 I23 I26 J31 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33530 |
| By: | Naomi Hausman; Oren Rigbi; Sarit Weisburd |
| Abstract: | Student use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education is reshaping learning and redefining the skills of future workers. Using student-course data from a top Israeli university, we examine the impact of generative AI tools on academic performance. Comparisons across more and less AI-compatible courses before and after ChatGPT’s introduction show that AI availability raises grades, especially for lower-performing students, and compresses the grade distribution, eroding the signal value of grades for employers. Evidence suggests gains in AI-specific human capital but possible losses in traditional human capital, highlighting benefits and costs AI may impose on future workforce productivity. |
| Keywords: | generative AI, student achievement, worker productivity, higher education, human capital. |
| JEL: | I23 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11843 |