TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Bicakova, Alena
AU  - Cortes, Matias
AU  - Mazza, Jacopo
        TI  - Make Your Own Luck: The Wage Gains from Starting College in a Bad Economy
        PY  - 2023/Apr/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 16087
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp16087
        AB  - Using data for nearly 40 cohorts of American college graduates and exploiting regional variation in economic conditions, we show robust evidence of a positive relationship between the unemployment rate at the time of college enrollment and subsequent annual earnings, particularly for women. This positive relationship is not driven by selection into employment or by economic conditions at the time of labor market entry. It also cannot be explained by differential sorting into college majors or post-graduate education. Up to one third of the effect is accounted for by sorting towards more remunerative locations. The results are consistent with a behavioral change that induces individuals who experience bad economic times at the beginning of their studies to exert more effort toward obtaining higher paying jobs. 
        KW  - cohort effects
KW  - higher education
KW  - business cycle
        ER  -