The Role of Mathematical and Verbal Skills on the Returns to Graduate and Professional Education

Students in majors with higher average quantitative GRE scores are less likely to attend graduate school while students in majors with higher average verbal GRE scores are more likely to attend graduate school. This sorting effect means that students whose cognitive skills are associated with lower earnings at the bachelorï¾’s level are the most likely to attend graduate school. As a result, there is a substantial downward bias in estimated returns to graduate education. Correcting for the sorting effect raises estimated annualized returns to a Masterï¾’s or doctoral degree from about 5% to 7.3% and 12.8% respectively. Estimated returns to professional degrees rise from 13.9% to 16.6%. These findings correspond to a large increase in relative earnings received by postgraduate degree holders in the United States over the past 20 years.sorting; Postgraduate; Rate of return; Demand for schooling; Quantitative skills; Qualitative skills

Individual and aggregate demand for higher education: the role of strategic scholarships

Undergraduate enrollment increased over 50 percent nationally from 1973 to 1994. The proportion of high school graduates enrolling in college increased from 46.6 to 61.9 percent. These increases occurred despite increases in real tuition prices since 1985, constant (nominal) levels of federal Pell grants per recipient, and declining numbers of high school graduates. This dissertation examines the admitted applicant\u27s decision to enroll and aggregate (state/county) enrollment at a large public institution;The aggregate enrollment model investigates the extent to which national trends in enrollment can be captured within the context of a model of enrollment demand at a specific university. State or national data sources do not allow sufficient time-series to test competing explanations for the increasing enrollment rates. A two stage process models the decision to attend a university as the product of the probability of attending college and the probability of attending the specific institution, conditional on college attenDance;;Analysis of college enrollment aggregated to the state or county level reveals that increased per capita income and increased expected returns to higher education have played major roles in increasing college enrollments. These factors led to rising college enrollments, even as rising tuition lowered college incentives. The model finds freshmen enrollment is negatively related to price and distance, with an inelastic own-price response;The individual level model determines the applicant\u27s reservation price. Four issues are discussed. (1) Can increases in tuition be offset with equal increases in grant aid? (2) Holding the probability of enrollment constant, how much must tuition increase to increase a desirable student attribute (academic ability, protected group status)? (3) How can institutions maximize revenues by price discriminating, and do they? (4) Based on computed reservation prices, what are the characteristics of the demand curve for the institution?;The probit estimates reveal that the response to tuition is larger than grant aid and women, minorities, and high ability students have higher reservation prices. The last dollar of grant aid decreases net revenue by more than one dollar and the institution is not maximizing revenue. Finally, the own-price elasticity in the individual level model is also inelastic

THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF RURAL IMMIGRANT POPULATION GROWTH, 1950-1990

This study tests whether evidence supports the hypothesis that rural immigrant populations are more sensitive to relative returns to human capital and living costs will be more elastic than those of native-born citizens. An empirically tractable model of incentive to migrate is developed following work of Huang et al (2001). The model is tested using Census data from 1950-1990 for a sample of rural counties from 18 Midwest and South central states. Preliminary results show that residential decisions of the rural foreign-born population are more sensitive to relative returns to human capital and relative costs of living than are native-born populations. Consequently, rural areas can attract immigrants if they offer earnings opportunities relative to housing costs that are superior to urban markets. Fears that immigrants will form a pocket of rural unemployed appear to be unfounded--immigrants will leave if rural job opportunities are not present.Community/Rural/Urban Development, Labor and Human Capital,

RURAL GROWTH IN U.S. HEARTLAND

This study identifies factors that explain growth in rural areas using data from 618 counties in the U.S. rural heartland. We evaluate many of the growth hypotheses in the context of sectoral employment growth for counties in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. Separate estimates for rural and urban counties provide insight into factors that are important in explaining employment growth. The results support the importance of human capital as a factor contributing to sectoral employment growth and show that increased concentration and specialization of employment within a county lead to slower growth in the rural heartland counties.Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Rural immigrant population growth, 1950-2000: waves or ripples?

Using U.S. Census data from 1950 to 2000, this paper provides a framework to compare the responses of immigrant and native population growth to the economic incentives offered by rural counties in the Midwest and the South. We find that in marked contrast to traditional destinations for new immigrants such as urban areas or rural California, growth of the immigrant population in these nontraditional rural destinations is not tied to concentrations of existing immigrant populations. Rural immigrant population growth is more responsive than native populations to economic incentives and immigrant growth is not affected by local welfare or other government services. The native-born population tends to respond more to growth in specific industries, while immigrant populations are more responsive to overall employment growth. Rural immigrant population growth is not positively influenced by levels of local welfare or other public services. Compared to earlier immigrant groups, more recent waves of rural immigrants are influenced more by the number of jobs than by income levels in deciding where to live

The role of mathematical and verbal skills on the returns to graduate and professional education

Students in majors with higher average quantitative graduate records exam (GRE) scores are less likely to attend graduate school whereas students in majors with higher average verbal GRE scores are more likely to attend graduate school. This sorting effect means that students whose cognitive skills are associated with lower earnings at the bachelor\u27s level are the most likely to attend graduate school. As a result, there is a substantial downward bias in estimated returns to graduate education. Correcting for the sorting effect raises estimated annualized returns to a Master\u27s or doctoral degree from about 5% to 7.3% and 12.8%, respectively. Estimated returns to professional degrees rise from 13.9% to 16.6%. These findings correspond to a large increase in relative earnings received by postgraduate degree holders in the United States over the past 20 years

The Pork Industry: Environmental Regulations and Competitiveness

Because of pork production\u27s increasing importance to the U.S. and world economies, questions concerning the relationship among environmental regulations, manure management practices, and production costs have arisen. The goal of this report is to discern whether competitive advantages exist in particular U.S. regions or countries. The current levels other rapidly changing environmental regulations in five key hog producing states are discussed in addition to possible geophysical and legal considerations producers have when selecting a site and deciding on a manure management practice. Existing data on production costs and manure management practices, along with a regions regulatory environment, are used to determine whether a region has a competitive advantage. The data indicates that he historical advantage of the North in hog production has diminished in recent years