Stepping stone and option value in a model of postsecondary education

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Trachter, Nicholas
• 署名单位: Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Richmond
• 刊物名称: QUANTITATIVE ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1759-7323
• DOI: 10.3982/QE326
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 223-256
• 关键词: Stepping stone; investment under uncertainty; academic learning; postsecondary education; college education; returns to education; D83; I21; J24

摘要

A stepping stone arises in risky environments with learning and transferrable human capital. An example is the role played by academic two-year colleges in postsecondary education: Students, as they learn about the uncertain educational outcomes, can drop out or transfer up to harder and more rewarding schools, carrying a fraction of the accumulated human capital. A theory of education is built and contrasted empirically to find that (i) option value explains a large part of returns to enrollment, (ii) enrollment in academic two-year colleges is driven by the option to transfer up, and (iii) the value of the stepping stone is small.