Abstract
This study focuses on how college students form expectations about various major-specific outcomes. For this purpose, I collect a panel data set of Northwestern University undergraduates that contains their subjective expectations about major-specific outcomes. Although students tend to be overconfident about their future academic performance, they revise their expectations in expectedways. The updating process is found to be consistent with a Bayesian learning model. I show that learning plays a role in the decision to switch majors and that major switchers respond to information from their own major. I also present evidence that learning is general and not entirely major specific.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 301-348 |
Number of pages | 48 |
Journal | Journal of Labor Economics |
Volume | 29 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Industrial relations
- Economics and Econometrics