TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Lergetporer, Philipp
AU  - Werner, Katharina
AU  - Woessmann, Ludger
        TI  - Does Ignorance of Economic Returns and Costs Explain the Educational Aspiration Gap? Evidence from Representative Survey Experiments
        PY  - 2018/Apr/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 11453
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp11453
        AB  - The gap in university enrollment by parental education is large and persistent in many countries. In our representative survey, 74 percent of German university graduates, but only 36 percent of those without a university degree favor a university education for their children. The latter are more likely to underestimate returns and overestimate costs of university. Experimental provision of return and cost information significantly increases educational aspirations. However, it does not close the aspiration gap as university graduates respond even more strongly to the information treatment. Persistent effects in a follow-up survey indicate that participants indeed process and remember the information. Differences in economic preference parameters also cannot account for the educational aspiration gap. Our results cast doubt that ignorance of economic returns and costs explains educational inequality in Germany.
        KW  - returns to education
KW  - information
KW  - aspiration
KW  - university
KW  - higher education
KW  - inequality
KW  - survey experiment
        ER  -