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Risk in human capital investment and gender difference in adult college enrollment

Cheng, Xueyu
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1187077285

Abstract Details

2007, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Economics.
The trend of gender inequality in education reversed since the late seventies with women catching up and surpassing men in educational attainment. Women now overtake men in completed years of school, high school completion rate, college enrollment rate, and receipt of college degrees including associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees and master’s degrees. Though women are the majorities on college campuses, they are over represented among adult college students. Through testing the hypothesis that people are more likely to attend college later in life, when their risk in human capital investment is high, this dissertation aims to examine the impact of gender difference in risk in human capital investment on gender difference in adult college enrollment using the Current Population Survey data. I assume that the return to education is heterogeneous across individuals and random. I use the variance of the random return to education and the mean rate of out of the labor force to measure risk in human capital investment. I find that risk in human capital investment has a significantly positive effect on adult college enrollment for both men and women. Specifically, when the risk in human capital investment is high, people are more likely to delay college entry and attend college later in life. I also show that women have higher return to education, higher variance of return to education and higher mean rate of out of the labor force than men. The fact that women have higher return to education, higher variance of return to education and higher mean rate of out of the labor force than men explains the trend in gender difference in adult college enrollment since the late 1960s. The result is robust to various measures of adult college enrollment.
Patricia Reagan (Advisor)
187 p.
Economics, Labor
Gender Difference in Higher Education; Risk in Human Capital Investment; Adult College Enrollment

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Cheng, X. (2007). Risk in human capital investment and gender difference in adult college enrollment [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1187077285

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Cheng, Xueyu. Risk in human capital investment and gender difference in adult college enrollment. 2007. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1187077285.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Cheng, Xueyu. "Risk in human capital investment and gender difference in adult college enrollment." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1187077285

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1187077285
1,154
© 2007, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.