Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Economics

This dissertation consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, I estimate wage effects of double majors and double degrees among a sample of college graduates in their early career, using the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97). I rely on selection on observables and control for individuals' test scores, family background, and school characteristics when estimating the wage effects. I further consider whether wage effects of a double major/degree can be explained by two mechanisms: the “skill-enhancing” effect (increase in the depth of knowledge accumulated in college) and the “job-matching” effect (increase in the chance of working in an occupation that is more closely related to one's college major). I examine whether estimated wage effects associated with a double major/degree (after controlling for confounding factors) decrease as a result of controlling for the depth of knowledge accumulated in college and the relatedness between college major and occupation. I find that having a double major does not make a significant difference in one's early-career post-college wages. A double degree is estimated to be associated with a 0.088 increase in log wages after controlling for confounding factors. About a third of this effect can be explained by a combination of both the “skill-enhancing” and “job-matching” effects. In the second chapter, I use the NLSY97 to study whether being mismatched in the first job (meaning the individual's occupation is not among the common occupations to which his/her college major typically leads) has a long-lasting effect on wages. I also investigate wage growth and job change patterns for different types of mismatched workers. I distinguish between demand-side mismatch due to job dissatisfaction and supply-side mismatch due to reasons other than reported job dissatisfaction. I find that both types of mismatched workers have significantly lower wages compared to matched workers, but that demand-side mismatched worker (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Audrey Light (Advisor); Bruce Weinberg (Committee Member); Kurt Lavetti (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics