Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Papers in Economics,
University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics

No 736: Field of study and family outcomes

Elisabeth Artmann, Nadine Ketel (), Hessel Oosterbeck and Bas van der Klaauw
Additional contact information
Elisabeth Artmann: VU University Amsterdam, Department of Economics
Nadine Ketel: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: P.O. Box 640, SE 40530 GÖTEBORG, Sweden
Hessel Oosterbeck: University of Amsterdam, School of Economics
Bas van der Klaauw: VU University Amsterdam, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper uses administrative data from 16 cohorts of the Dutch population to study the relationship between field of study and family outcomes. We first document considerable variation by field of study for a range of family outcomes. To get to causal effects, we use admission lotteries that were conducted in the Netherlands to allocate seats for four substantially oversubscribed studies. We find that field of study matters for partner choice, which for women also implies an effect on partners' earnings. Fertility of women is not affected and evidence for men is mixed, but we find evidence for intergenerational effects on children's education. This means that field of study does not only affect individual labor market outcomes but also causally influences other important dimensions of a person's life.

Keywords: Higher education; study choice; returns to education; assortative matching intergenerational mobility

JEL-codes: I26; J12; J13

39 pages, August 2018

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