Education as an Option

To the student, education provides many benefits. In part, education produces human capital. By attending school and training on the job, the student acquires marketable skills, thereby sacrificing current labor income while augmenting future labor income. Among economists this concept is familiar. Beginning with the seminal work by Mincer (1958) and Becker (1964), models of the accumulation of human capital have been extended to the life cycle and, more recently, to uncertainty.' Simultaneously, several of these models have been tested empirically.2 To economists, education also serves as a signal. By completing a demanding educational program, the student signals to prospective employers that he possesses greater innate productivity than other potential employees not completing similar programs. This potentially greater productivity the employer then rewards with more favorable conditions of employment,