Research
Research
Unpacking Skill Supply and Wages
Abstract: This paper investigates how graduate wages respond to changes in the supply of graduates with similar majors. Using major fixed-effect and instrumental variable regressions on American Community Survey data, we estimate statistically insignificant effects. These estimates rule out elasticities of substitution between major groups below 5. This high substitutability is inconsistent with previous research that finds less substitutability using broader education categories (e.g., Katz and Murphy, 1992). We reconcile this by demonstrating that those previous results derive from spurious time series regressions. Finally, we explain the substitutability by showing that different education groups have significant occupational overlaps.
Higher Education Peers and Labour Market Outcomes
Abstract: We investigate to what extent differences in graduate outcomes between degree programmes reflect the quality and identity of one’s peers. By exploiting year-to-year idiosyncratic variation in peer composition within university courses using administrative education data covering all of England, we find that having more academically able coursemates increases earnings. This effect is sufficient for the difference in peer ability between the institutions in the lower and upper terciles of selectivity to increase earnings by 4%. One potential mediator for this effect is improved graduation rates. However, we cannot detect any effects for peer socioeconomic status or gender and do not find any meaningful treatment effect heterogeneity.
A Replication of "When a Doctor Falls from the Sky: The Impact of Easing Doctor Supply Constraints on Mortality", Okeke E.N. (2023) (with Emma McManus, Vasudha Wattal, and Ritchie Woodward)
Institute for Replication Discussion Paper