TY - JOUR
T1 - The path to college education
T2 - The role of math and verbal skills
AU - Aucejo, Esteban
AU - James, Jonathan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - This paper studies the formation of math and verbal skills during compulsory education and their impact on educational attainment. Using longitudinal data that follow students in England from elementary school to university, we find that the production functions of math and verbal skills are inherently different, where cross effects are present only in the production of math skills. Results on long-term educational outcomes indicate that verbal skills play a substantially greater role in explaining university enrollment than math skills. This finding, combined with the large female advantage in verbal skills, has key implications for gender gaps in college enrollment.
AB - This paper studies the formation of math and verbal skills during compulsory education and their impact on educational attainment. Using longitudinal data that follow students in England from elementary school to university, we find that the production functions of math and verbal skills are inherently different, where cross effects are present only in the production of math skills. Results on long-term educational outcomes indicate that verbal skills play a substantially greater role in explaining university enrollment than math skills. This finding, combined with the large female advantage in verbal skills, has key implications for gender gaps in college enrollment.
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U2 - 10.1086/715417
DO - 10.1086/715417
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85113706281
SN - 0022-3808
VL - 129
SP - 2905
EP - 2946
JO - Journal of Political Economy
JF - Journal of Political Economy
IS - 10
ER -