Sophie Hedges of London Economics summarises a new paper which finds that, for both males and females, non-achievers are generally closer in their observable characteristics to the achievers, than are individuals who only complete the qualification at the level below. The labour market returns to qualifications have typically been estimated by comparing the wages of individuals who achieve a particular qualification with the wages of two contrasting counterfactual groups: either level-below (i.e. similar individuals in possession of the qualification at the level below); or non-achievers (i.e. similar individuals who start studying the qualification but then fail to achieve).

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11 April 2018

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CVER Blog

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http://cver-blog.blogspot.com/2018/04/choosing-best-counterfactual-for.html

This Blog is published under the centre's Education programme.