A BEJM Contributions article.

Abstract

In this paper, we use information from U.S. states to determine the social return to schooling. We estimate a macro-Mincerian model where aggregate earnings (or income) depend upon physical capital, labor, average years of schooling and average labor force experience. We find that the social return to U.S. schooling is 9 to 16 percent, which matches estimates of the private return found in the labor literature. Our results therefore provide evidence that U.S. schooling is indeed productive, but generates no positive externalities.

Submitted: March 12, 2007 · Accepted: August 22, 2008 · Published: August 29, 2008

Recommended Citation

Yamarik, Steven J. (2008) "Estimating Returns to Schooling from State-Level Data: A Macro-Mincerian Approach," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics: Vol. 8 : Iss. 1 (Contributions), Article 23.
Available at: http://www.bepress.com/bejm/vol8/iss1/art23