Returns to Schooling: A Quantile Regression

This paper contributes to the large body of economic literature that attempts to estimate the returns to schooling. It uses quantile regression to estimate the effect of an additional year of education on monthly wage for earners in different quantiles. Using data from the young men’s cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey, the paper attempts to control for ability, family background, geography, and race, and finds that the returns to schooling is approximately 3.49% for men. Furthermore, the paper finds that while the effect of education on earnings is not significantly different from quantile to quantile, the significance of education increases with earnings