Education, allocation and earnings in the Netherlands: Overschooling?

Published in: Economics of Education Review 7 (2). (1988). 185-194. (with Joop Hartog )

This paper documents the increased participation in higher education in the Netherlands and its consequences for the relation between levels of education and job levels. Undereducation has been reduced, overeducation has been increased. This does not imply private or social inefficiency, as even years of “overeducation” earn a positive rate of return. A general specification of the earnings function is derived from allocation models of the labor market. It contains the human capital specification and the job competition specification as special cases, and proves superior to both.

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