Who Benefits Most from a University Degree?: A Cross-National Comparison of Selection and Wage Returns in the US, UK, and Germany

Recent research on economic returns to higher education in the United States suggests that those with the highest wage returns to a college degree are least likely to obtain one. We extend the study of heterogeneous returns to tertiary education across multiple institutional contexts, investigating how the relationship between wage returns and the propensity to complete a degree varies by the level of expansion, differentiation, and cost of higher education. Drawing on panel data and matching techniques, we compare findings from the US with selection into degree completion in Germany and the UK. Contrary to previous studies, we find little evidence for population level heterogeneity in economic returns to higher education

Finland

Peer reviewe

Resuming Work After Cancer: A Prospective Study of Occupational Register Data

Introduction Long-term employment rates have been studied in cancer survivors, but little is known about the return to work of cancer patients. This study investigated return to work (RTW) within 2 years after the diagnosis of different types of cancer. Methods This prospective study investigated the associations of demographics (age, gender, socioeconomic status, and residential region) and occupational factors (occupation, duration of employment, and company size) of employees absent from work due to cancer with the time to partial RTW, defined as working at least 50% of the earnings before sickness absence. Likewise, the associations of demographics and occupational factors with full RTW at equal earnings as before sickness absence were investigated. Results The cohort included 5,234 employees who had been absent from work due to cancer between January 2004 and December 2006. The time to partial RTW was shortest among employees with skin cancer (median 55 days) and longest among employees with lung cancer (median 377 days). There were no significant associations between RTW and demographics. With regard to the occupational factors, employees in high occupational classes started working earlier than those in low occupational classes, but the time to full RTW did not differ significantly across occupational classes. Employees working in large companies returned to work earlier than those working in small companies. Conclusion RTW after different types of cancer depended on occupational factors rather than demographics

The effects of siblings on the migration of women in two rural areas of Belgium and the Netherlands, 1829-1940

This study explores the extent to which the presence and activities of siblings shaped the chances of women migrating to rural and urban areas in two rural areas of Belgium and the Netherlands during the second half of the nineteenth and first decades of the twentieth century. Shared-frailty Cox proportional hazard analyses of longitudinal data from historical population registers show that siblings exerted an additive impact on women's migration, independently of temporal and household characteristics. Just how siblings influenced women's migration depended on regional modes of production and on employment opportunities. In the Zeeland region, sisters channelled each other into service positions. In the Pays de Herve, where men and women found industrial work in the Walloon cities, women were as much influenced by their brothers' activities. Evidence is found for two mechanisms explaining the effects of siblings: micro-economic notions of joint-household decision-making and social capital theory

Wages in high-tech start-ups - do academic spin-offs pay a wage premium?

Due to their origin from universities, academic spin‐offs operate at the forefront of the technological development. Therefore, spin‐offs exhibit a skill‐biased labour demand, i.e. spin‐offs have a high demand for employees with cutting edge knowledge and technical skills. In order to accommodate this demand, spin‐offs may have to pay a relative wage premium compared to other high‐tech start‐ups. However, neither a comprehensive theoretical assessment nor the empirical literature on wages in start‐ups unambiguously predicts the existence and the direction of wage differentials between spin‐offs and non‐spin‐offs. This paper addresses this research gap and examines empirically whether or not spin‐offs pay their employees a wage premium. Using a unique linked employer‐employee data set of German high‐tech start‐ups, we estimate Mincer‐type wage regressions applying the Hausman‐Taylor panel estimator. Our results show that spin‐offs do not pay a wage premium in general. However, a notable exception from this general result is that spin‐offs that commercialise new scientific results or methods provide higher wages to employees with linkages to the university sector – either as university graduates or as student workers