The aim of this paper is to estimate the effects of the expansion of tertiary education supply on the educational choices of young Italian high school graduates. A quasi-experimental setting given by the reform of the tertiary education system implemented in 2001 is exploited. The reform was embraced at different points in time and to different degrees: it created significant changes in local educational supply in certain provinces while being only marginally relevant in others. This geographical variation is exploited through a diff-in-diff strategy to estimate the impact of the increase in tertiary education supply on enrolment and the mobility decisions of high school graduates. Major gender differences emerge: the increase of local tertiary education supply generated a significant increase in female enrolment rates leaving unchanged those of males; men, on the other hand, switched from studying outside their province of residence to studying at the local university. These results would suggest the existence of a relationship of substitutability between studying away from home and studying at the local university for boys, but not for girls.
No. 181 - Home or away? Gender differences in the effects of an expansion of tertiary education supply
Full text
- No. 181 - Home or away? Gender differences in the effects of an expansion of tertiary education supply pdf 1.2 MB Data pubblicazione: 20 June 2013