TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Heckman, James J.
AU  - Lochner, Lance John
AU  - Todd, Petra E.
        TI  - Earnings Functions and Rates of Return
        PY  - 2008/Jan/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 3310
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp3310
        AB  - The internal rate of return to schooling is a fundamental economic parameter that is often used to assess whether expenditure on education should be increased or decreased. This paper considers alternative approaches to estimating marginal internal rates of return for different schooling levels. We implement a general nonparametric approach to estimate marginal internal rates of return that take into account tuition costs, income taxes and nonlinearities in the earnings-schooling-experience relationship. The returns obtained by the more general method differ substantially from Mincer returns in levels and in their evolution over time. They indicate relatively larger returns to graduating from high school than from graduating from college, although both have been increasing over time.
        KW  - nonparametric estimation
KW  - marginal internal rate of return
KW  - schooling
        ER  -