The Changing Returns to Education: An Analysis of the Returns to Education as they Change from 2002 to 2012 in 5 Countries

Authors

Jonas Wightman 16, Illinois Wesleyan UniversityFollow

Abstract

Education is widely understood to impact earnings, but the dynamics of this relationship - specifically, the returns to education - are important to consider in depth. Through a synthesis of human capital theory and the Paradox of Progress, which relates income ine-quality to educational attainment, I explore how the returns to education have changed over time. I use 2002 and 2012 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) income and education data to first determine the returns to education within the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, and Sweden with OLS regressions and then to comparatively analyze how the measure changed from one year to the next in each country. I find that there is not a consistent pattern of change across the entire panel of countries, which suggests that the Paradox of Progress might not be universally pertinent.

Recommended Citation

Wightman, Jonas 16 (2016) "The Changing Returns to Education: An Analysis of the Returns to Education as they Change from 2002 to 2012 in 5 Countries," The Park Place Economist: Vol. 24
Available at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/parkplace/vol24/iss1/11