Catching Up Is Hard to Do: Undergraduate Prestige, Elite Graduate Programs, and the Earnings Premium

62 Pages Posted: 20 Jul 2019 Last revised: 14 Nov 2019

See all articles by Joni Hersch

Joni Hersch

Vanderbilt University - Law School; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Vanderbilt University - Owen Graduate School of Management; Vanderbilt University - College of Arts and Science - Department of Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: June 12, 2019

Abstract

A commonly held perception is that an elite graduate degree can “scrub” a less prestigious but less costly undergraduate degree. Using data from the National Survey of College Graduates from 2003 through 2017, this paper examines the relationship between the status of undergraduate degrees and earnings among those with elite post-baccalaureate degrees. Few graduates of nonselective institutions earn post-baccalaureate degrees from elite institutions, and even when they do, undergraduate institutional prestige continues to be positively related to earnings overall as well as among those with specific post-baccalaureate degrees including business, law, medicine, and doctoral. Among those who earn a graduate degree from an elite institution, the present value of the earnings advantage to having both an undergraduate and a graduate degree from an elite institution generally greatly exceeds any likely cost advantage from attending a less prestigious undergraduate institution.

Keywords: Returns to education, higher education, education and inequality, graduate degrees, professional labor markets, human capital, wage differentials, cost-benefit analysis, earnings benefit

JEL Classification: I24, D61, I26, J24, J31, J44

Suggested Citation

Hersch, Joni, Catching Up Is Hard to Do: Undergraduate Prestige, Elite Graduate Programs, and the Earnings Premium (June 12, 2019). Vanderbilt Law and Economics Research Paper No. 14-23, Vanderbilt Public Law Research Paper No. 16-17, Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2473238 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2473238

Joni Hersch (Contact Author)

Vanderbilt University - Law School ( email )

131 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203-1181
United States
615-343-7717 (Phone)
615-322-6631 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://law.vanderbilt.edu/bio/?pid=joni-hersch

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Vanderbilt University - Owen Graduate School of Management

401 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203
United States

HOME PAGE: http://business.vanderbilt.edu/bio/joni-hersch/

Vanderbilt University - College of Arts and Science - Department of Economics

Box 1819 Station B
Nashville, TN 37235
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
5,661
Abstract Views
20,016
Rank
2,628
PlumX Metrics