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Still a shock to me- although I wouldn't be surprised to hear that all of the exotic, esoteric liberal arts programs offered at elite colleges don't lead to hig

Still a shock to me- although I wouldn't be surprised to hear that all of the exotic, esoteric liberal arts programs offered at elite colleges don't lead to high paying careers.

jbooth 16y ago
Yeah, I feel like there must be something else going on. Regardless of the quality of top colleges, you'd think selectivity alone would lead to a higher earning group. Apparently according to the guy's update, the sample controlled for women who left the workforce entirely, so rich doctor hubby from Harvard isn't the answer.. I'd note that people who go to extremely selective colleges and are white (and maybe asian) are almost definitely from a pretty well-off family. The study did notice that black and hispanic people showed a huge income increase, so maybe the people who were already well off felt less of a need to make money, they take some socially beneficial or interesting-to-them job in exchange for less pay. Another note.. this is on earnings 20 years later, which might make sense for a few reasons but also means that things could have changed in the last 20 years (not that I have a reason to think they have).
- jdminhbg 16y ago
  Even if you control for leaving the workforce entirely, rich doctor hubby from Harvard could still be the answer in that it frees up idealistic wife from Harvard to work in non-profits or other spiritually rewarding but non-remunerative jobs. That said, those are just conjectures -- I think it's more interesting that the result was so jarring to them they didn't bother following up with some sort of potential explanation.
  - kenjackson 16y ago
    And the results seem to change so much from data source to data source and cohort, and just about any other factor that it is clear to me that we really don't have a solid statement. I wouldn't be at all surprised that they do this with 1995 data and the results are completely different.

Still a shock to me- although I wouldn't be surprised to hear that all of the exotic, esoteric liberal arts programs offered at elite colleges don't lead to high paying careers.

jbooth 16y ago

Yeah, I feel like there must be something else going on. Regardless of the quality of top colleges, you'd think selectivity alone would lead to a higher earning group. Apparently according to the guy's update, the sample controlled for women who left the workforce entirely, so rich doctor hubby from Harvard isn't the answer.. I'd note that people who go to extremely selective colleges and are white (and maybe asian) are almost definitely from a pretty well-off family. The study did notice that black and hispanic people showed a huge income increase, so maybe the people who were already well off felt less of a need to make money, they take some socially beneficial or interesting-to-them job in exchange for less pay. Another note.. this is on earnings 20 years later, which might make sense for a few reasons but also means that things could have changed in the last 20 years (not that I have a reason to think they have).

jdminhbg 16y ago
Even if you control for leaving the workforce entirely, rich doctor hubby from Harvard could still be the answer in that it frees up idealistic wife from Harvard to work in non-profits or other spiritually rewarding but non-remunerative jobs. That said, those are just conjectures -- I think it's more interesting that the result was so jarring to them they didn't bother following up with some sort of potential explanation.
- kenjackson 16y ago
  And the results seem to change so much from data source to data source and cohort, and just about any other factor that it is clear to me that we really don't have a solid statement. I wouldn't be at all surprised that they do this with 1995 data and the results are completely different.