An Economic Analysis of Earnings and Schooling

This study is concerned with an analysis of male earnings in the United States in 1959, with special emphasis on their relation to schooling and age, and on the demand for investment in schooling among various population groups. The empirical investigation is based on a cross-sectional sample of the 1960 Census of Population. The first section comprises an estimation of the earnings function, correlating expected earnings with age and education, after various other relevant factors are standardized. In the second section, internal rates of return on schooling are derived on the basis of the previous estimates. These rates are then interpreted and analyzed in terms of the demand function for investment in education.