Explain how human capital theory helps in understanding how college education improves earnings

Explain how human capital theory helps in understanding how college education improves earnings

Empirical studies in Economics and Education have proven without a doubt that a college education is worth it, from a cost-benefit analysis. While obviously not all colleges and college degrees are created equal, earning a college degree significantly boosts annual wages, on average. The question is however, what are the exact channels through which college education improves earnings? I will offer you 3 “theories” and I will ask you to tell me which of the 3 you think are valid explanations (can be more than 1) and also which do you think is the most important one? There is no correct or wrong answer here. I simply want you to think about it and properly reason your answers.

1. The human capital theory – by getting a college education, students acquire and develop skills that increase their productivity in the work force, which results in higher wages.

2. The college selection theory – people who go to college are overall smarter/harder working/more productive/etc. to begin with. These people would have gotten higher wages even if they hadn’t gone to college. College attendance just happened to be there. This is essentially a story of a spurious correlation. This theory claims there is no causality between attending college and earnings, but simply that college attendance correlates well with certain innate abilities which are rewarded on the job market.

3. The signaling theory – people who earn college degrees are overall smarter/harder working/more productive/etc., but the reason they earn higher wages is that they earned a degree and that degree signals to employers that these students are overall better workers. This is an incomplete information story – employers do not know how productive you are but they can infer that from you having a degree. Unlike theory 2 states, these students would not have earned higher waged had they not gone to college simply because there wouldn’t be anything to certify to employers that these students are truly more productive.

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