An Empirical Investigation of the Option Value of College Enrollment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Stange, Kevin M.
• 署名单位: University of Michigan System; University of Michigan
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.4.1.49
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 49-84
• 关键词: educational-attainment; discrete-choice; returns; Heterogeneity; IMPACT

摘要

This paper quantifies the option value arising from sequential schooling decisions made in the presence of uncertainty and learning about academic ability. College attendance has option value since enrolled students have the option, but not obligation, to continue in school after learning their aptitude and tastes. I estimate that option value accounts for 14 percent of the total value of the opportunity to attend college for the average high school graduate and is greatest for moderate-aptitude students. Students' ability to make decisions sequentially in response to new information increases welfare and also makes educational outcomes less polarized by background.