Attendance, Completion, and Heterogeneous Returns to College: A Causal Mediation Approach
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| Title: | Attendance, Completion, and Heterogeneous Returns to College: A Causal Mediation Approach |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Xiang Zhou (ORCID |
| Source: | Sociological Methods & Research. 2024 53(3):1136-1166. |
| Availability: | SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 31 |
| Publication Date: | 2024 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education High Schools Secondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Outcomes of Education, Educational Benefits, Educational Status Comparison, Disadvantaged Youth, High School Graduates, College Attendance, College Graduates, Reentry Students, Social Science Research, Cost Effectiveness, Advantaged, Comparative Testing |
| DOI: | 10.1177/00491241221113876 |
| ISSN: | 0049-1241 1552-8294 |
| Abstract: | A growing body of social science research investigates whether the economic payoff to a college education is heterogeneous -- in particular, whether disadvantaged youth can benefit more from attending and completing college relative to their more advantaged peers. Scholars, however, have employed different analytical strategies and reported mixed findings. To shed light on this literature, I propose a causal mediation approach to conceptualizing, evaluating, and unpacking the causal effects of college on earnings. By decomposing the total effect of attending a four-year college into several direct and indirect components, this approach not only clarifies the mechanisms through which college attendance boosts earnings, but illuminates the ways in which the postsecondary system may be "both an equalizer and a stratifier." The total effect of college attendance, its direct and indirect components, and their heterogeneity across different subpopulations are all identified under the assumption of sequential ignorability. I introduce a debiased machine learning (DML) method for estimating all quantities of interest, along with a set of bias formulas for sensitivity analysis. I illustrate the proposed framework and methodology using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 cohort. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2024 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1434929 |
| Database: | ERIC |
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| Abstract: | A growing body of social science research investigates whether the economic payoff to a college education is heterogeneous -- in particular, whether disadvantaged youth can benefit more from attending and completing college relative to their more advantaged peers. Scholars, however, have employed different analytical strategies and reported mixed findings. To shed light on this literature, I propose a causal mediation approach to conceptualizing, evaluating, and unpacking the causal effects of college on earnings. By decomposing the total effect of attending a four-year college into several direct and indirect components, this approach not only clarifies the mechanisms through which college attendance boosts earnings, but illuminates the ways in which the postsecondary system may be "both an equalizer and a stratifier." The total effect of college attendance, its direct and indirect components, and their heterogeneity across different subpopulations are all identified under the assumption of sequential ignorability. I introduce a debiased machine learning (DML) method for estimating all quantities of interest, along with a set of bias formulas for sensitivity analysis. I illustrate the proposed framework and methodology using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 cohort. |
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| ISSN: | 0049-1241 1552-8294 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/00491241221113876 |
