The persistent effect of socioeconomic status on education and labor market outcomes: Evidence from Chile’s administrative records

• Juan A. Correa ^[1] ; Pablo Gutiérrez ^[2] ; Miguel Lorca ^[5] ; Raúl Morales ^[3] ; Francisco Parro ^[4]
  1. [1] Universidad Andrés Bello

     Universidad Andrés Bello

     Santiago, Chile

     
  2. [2] University of British Columbia

     University of British Columbia

     Canadá

     
  3. [3] Cornell University

     Cornell University

     City of Ithaca, Estados Unidos

     
  4. [4] Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez

     Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez

     Santiago, Chile

     
  5. [5] University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

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• Localización: Applied economic analysis, ISSN 2632-7627, Vol. 27, Nº. 79, 2019, págs. 62-90
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Purpose – This paper aims to study the effect of family socioeconomic status (SES) on academic and labor market outcomes.

    Design/methodology/approach – The authors used a rich data set of administrative records for test scores, individual background and adult earnings of a cohort of agents, covering a period spanning the agents’ upper-secondary education and their early years in the labor market.

    Findings – The authors find that students with the highest SES obtained a 1.5 standard deviations higher score in the college admission test than students who had the same academic outcomes in the eighth grade test but belong to the lowest SES. Similarly, among students that obtained the same scores in the college admission test, those with the highest SES earned monthly wages 0.7 standard deviations higher than those with the lowest SES.

    Originality/value – The findings highlight that family socioeconomic background continues to influence outcomes during individuals’ upper secondary education and early years in the labor market.