More than half of American and European workers have a level of education that does not match the... more More than half of American and European workers have a level of education that does not match the level of education required for their job. A majority of these has more schooling than necessary to perform their job, and is deemed overeducated in the economics. A key motivation for this project is to go beyond stylized facts and understand the determinants and implications of over-education. The goal of this research is threefold. First, we will investigate the effect of educational mismatch on wages using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79). Second, we will attempt to disentangle the different mechanisms contributing to over-education. Quantifying the importance of job search inefficiencies, versus other factors such as unobserved ability, non-pecuniary job benefits or career mobility prospects is crucial from a policy viewpoint. The third objective of our analysis will be to consider gender, race and socioeconomic heterogeneity in the risk of overeducatio
In this paper, we build a new test of rational expectations based on the marginal distributions o... more In this paper, we build a new test of rational expectations based on the marginal distributions of realizations and subjective beliefs. This test is widely applicable, including in the common situation where realizations and beliefs are observed in two different datasets that cannot be matched. We show that whether one can rationalize rational expectations is equivalent to the distribution of realizations being a mean-preserving spread of the distribution of beliefs. The null hypothesis can then be rewritten as a system of many moment inequality and equality constraints, for which tests have been recently developed in the literature. Next, we go beyond testing by defining and estimating the minimal deviations from rational expectations that can be rationalized by the data. In the context of structural models, we build on this concept to propose an easy-to-implement way to conduct a sensitivity analysis on the assumed form of expectations. Finally, we apply our framework to test for and quantify deviations from rational expectations about future earnings, and examine the consequences of such departures in the context of a life-cycle model of consumption.
Cette these contient quatre essais relatifs a l'analyse microeconometrique de la demande d... more Cette these contient quatre essais relatifs a l'analyse microeconometrique de la demande d'education post-secondaire. Nous y etudions de plusieurs points de vue les choix educatifs des individus ayant termine leurs etudes secondaires, chacun de ces points de vue fournissant la matiere d'un chapitre de cette these. Les deux premiers chapitres examinent les determinants de ces choix educatifs, en analysant respectivement la decision de poursuivre des etudes superieures et le choix de filiere universitaire. Ces chapitres mettent tous deux en avant l'influence majeure des facteurs non-pecuniaires dans le processus de choix d'education post-secondaire. Le troisieme et dernier chapitre est consacre a la question connexe du financement des etudes superieures, abordee sous l'angle du cumul emploi-etudes et de son effet sur la reussite scolaire.
Les etudiants qui decident de poursuivre des etudes superieures sont confrontes a des choix d’ori... more Les etudiants qui decident de poursuivre des etudes superieures sont confrontes a des choix d’orientation complexes qui ont des consequences majeures en termes de salaires et de trajectoire professionnelle. Il est crucial de comprendre comment ces decisions sont formees, afin notamment d’aboutir a des politiques publiques permettant d’inflechir les inegalites d’acces aux differents cursus. La recherche en economie sur cette question met l’accent sur le role essentiel joue par les preferences et les aptitudes pour les differents types de formations, sur l’importance des imperfections d’information ainsi que sur l’effet du revenu familial sur l’orientation des etudiants.
More than half of American and European workers have a level of education that does not match the... more More than half of American and European workers have a level of education that does not match the level of education required for their job. A majority of these has more schooling than necessary to perform their job, and is deemed overeducated in the economics. A key motivation for this project is to go beyond stylized facts and understand the determinants and implications of over-education. The goal of this research is threefold. First, we will investigate the effect of educational mismatch on wages using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79). Second, we will attempt to disentangle the different mechanisms contributing to over-education. Quantifying the importance of job search inefficiencies, versus other factors such as unobserved ability, non-pecuniary job benefits or career mobility prospects is crucial from a policy viewpoint. The third objective of our analysis will be to consider gender, race and socioeconomic heterogeneity in the risk of overeducatio
In this paper, we build a new test of rational expectations based on the marginal distributions o... more In this paper, we build a new test of rational expectations based on the marginal distributions of realizations and subjective beliefs. This test is widely applicable, including in the common situation where realizations and beliefs are observed in two different datasets that cannot be matched. We show that whether one can rationalize rational expectations is equivalent to the distribution of realizations being a mean-preserving spread of the distribution of beliefs. The null hypothesis can then be rewritten as a system of many moment inequality and equality constraints, for which tests have been recently developed in the literature. Next, we go beyond testing by defining and estimating the minimal deviations from rational expectations that can be rationalized by the data. In the context of structural models, we build on this concept to propose an easy-to-implement way to conduct a sensitivity analysis on the assumed form of expectations. Finally, we apply our framework to test for and quantify deviations from rational expectations about future earnings, and examine the consequences of such departures in the context of a life-cycle model of consumption.
Cette these contient quatre essais relatifs a l'analyse microeconometrique de la demande d... more Cette these contient quatre essais relatifs a l'analyse microeconometrique de la demande d'education post-secondaire. Nous y etudions de plusieurs points de vue les choix educatifs des individus ayant termine leurs etudes secondaires, chacun de ces points de vue fournissant la matiere d'un chapitre de cette these. Les deux premiers chapitres examinent les determinants de ces choix educatifs, en analysant respectivement la decision de poursuivre des etudes superieures et le choix de filiere universitaire. Ces chapitres mettent tous deux en avant l'influence majeure des facteurs non-pecuniaires dans le processus de choix d'education post-secondaire. Le troisieme et dernier chapitre est consacre a la question connexe du financement des etudes superieures, abordee sous l'angle du cumul emploi-etudes et de son effet sur la reussite scolaire.
Les etudiants qui decident de poursuivre des etudes superieures sont confrontes a des choix d’ori... more Les etudiants qui decident de poursuivre des etudes superieures sont confrontes a des choix d’orientation complexes qui ont des consequences majeures en termes de salaires et de trajectoire professionnelle. Il est crucial de comprendre comment ces decisions sont formees, afin notamment d’aboutir a des politiques publiques permettant d’inflechir les inegalites d’acces aux differents cursus. La recherche en economie sur cette question met l’accent sur le role essentiel joue par les preferences et les aptitudes pour les differents types de formations, sur l’importance des imperfections d’information ainsi que sur l’effet du revenu familial sur l’orientation des etudiants.
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Papers by Arnaud Maurel