College education offers a hefty 8.8% pay premium for each marginal increase in the number of years of intellectual attainment.

Fiona Sydney

2018-04-29 13:44:00 Sun ET

College education offers a hefty 8.8% pay premium for each marginal increase in the number of years of intellectual attainment in contrast to the 5.6%-6% long-run average U.S. equity premium.

World Bank economists George Psacharopoulos and Harry Patrinos investigate 1,120 studies across 139 countries to derive an average annual rate of return on each marginal increase in the basic level of educational attainment. This 8.8% pay premium far exceeds the U.S. stock market return about 5.6%-6% per annum over the past 5 decades. The pay premium excludes social gains such as positive social interactions and low mortality rates in close association with better education. Also, the pay premium is higher for girls and college graduates (in direct comparison to postgraduates). This premium is higher in low-income countries primarily as these countries recruit a smaller share of international citizens with higher education.

In accordance with the law of lower marginal value, this pay premium dwindles for each extra year of educational attainment. Psacharopoulos and Patrinos posit a current race between education and technology. This race suggests that high-tech advances accelerate to favor high-skill workers to the detriment of low-skill workers. The normative implication for public policy is that the government should subsidize college education or even graduate school attendance. This subsidization serves as a worthy socioeconomic investment in human capital.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

American exceptionalism often turns out to be the heuristic rule of thumb for better economic growth, low and stable inflation, full employment, and macro-financial stability.

Apple Boston

2026-07-01 11:29:00 Wednesday ET

American exceptionalism often turns out to be the heuristic rule of thumb for better economic growth, low and stable inflation, full employment, and macro-financial stability.

In recent years, higher American economic growth has been impressive both by historical standards and in comparison to the rest of the world. American excep

+See More

Federal Reserve delivers a second interest rate hike to 1.75%-2% and then expects more rate increases in late-2018.

Charlene Vos

2018-06-08 13:35:00 Friday ET

Federal Reserve delivers a second interest rate hike to 1.75%-2% and then expects more rate increases in late-2018.

The Federal Reserve delivers a second interest rate hike to 1.75%-2% and then expects subsequent rate increases in September and December 2018 to dampen inf

+See More

The U.S. greenback soars in value as the Federal Reserve continues its interest rate hike.

Daisy Harvey

2018-10-07 13:39:00 Sunday ET

The U.S. greenback soars in value as the Federal Reserve continues its interest rate hike.

The U.S. greenback soars in value as the Federal Reserve continues its interest rate hike. With impressive service-sector data and non-farm payroll wage gro

+See More

A Harvard MBA graduate Camilo Maldonado shares several life lessons and wise insights into personal finance.

James Campbell

2019-05-17 15:24:00 Friday ET

A Harvard MBA graduate Camilo Maldonado shares several life lessons and wise insights into personal finance.

A Harvard MBA graduate Camilo Maldonado shares several life lessons and wise insights into personal finance. People can leverage stock market investments an

+See More

Apple releases the new iOS 13 smartphone features.

John Fourier

2019-07-01 12:35:00 Monday ET

Apple releases the new iOS 13 smartphone features.

Apple releases the new iOS 13 smartphone features. These features include Dark Mode, Audio Share, Memoji, better privacy protection, smart photo collection,

+See More

New York Fed CEO John Williams sees no need to raise the interest rate unless economic growth or inflation rises to a high gear.

Joseph Corr

2019-02-28 12:39:00 Thursday ET

New York Fed CEO John Williams sees no need to raise the interest rate unless economic growth or inflation rises to a high gear.

New York Fed CEO John Williams sees no need to raise the interest rate unless economic growth or inflation rises to a high gear. After raising the interest

+See More