@TechReport{iza:izadps:dp18567,
            	author={Souder, Mael Astruc–Le and Bargain, Olivier B. and Locks, Gedeao},
            	title={A Question of Honor? The Labor Market  Advantage of Academic Signaling},
            	year={2026},
	month={Apr},
            	institution={Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)},
            	address={Bonn},
            	type={IZA Discussion Paper},
            	number={18567},
            	url={https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18567},
	abstract={As tertiary education expands, employers increasingly rely on academic distinctions to screen among similarly qualified graduates. We study the labor-market effects of honors using administrative and survey data on Sorbonne master’s graduates. We exploit France’s fixed GPA thresholds for honors assignment to implement a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. Returns are concentrated at the intermediate distinction (“High Honors”), indicating that credentials are most informative when they separate above- from below-average students. We find that High Honors accelerate school-to-work transitions, increasing the monthly job-finding rate by about 40%. Honors also generate an initial wage premium, which fades within two years, and lead to persistent improvements in job quality, including greater access to master’s-level positions and faster transitions to permanent contracts. These results highlight the role of academic distinctions as short-run signals that shape early career allocation rather than long-term earnings.},
	keywords={signaling;honors;regression discontinuity design;fuzzy RDD},
            }