We examine the relationship between the formal ratings that principals give teachers and a variety of observable teacher characteristics, including proxies for productivity. Prior work has shown that principals can differentiate between more and less effective teachers, especially at the tails of the quality distribution, and that subjective…

A proportion of employees are overqualified for their work. This generates a wage premium relative to the job but a penalty relative to the qualification, and is therefore, a puzzle for human capital theory. A part of this derives from the use of measures of time spent in education for the calculation of overqualification. Analysing data from four…

The paper explores the incidence of over and under education and the effect on earnings for immigrants and natives who hold UK qualifications, drawn from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey 1993-2003. The paper also compares earnings penalties associated with over and under education across immigrant and minority ethnic groups for men and women. The…

Recent studies have explored whether employers use educational qualifications as screening device, rather than as measure of acquired human capital. One method for testing a strong version of the screening hypothesis was suggested by Psacharopoulos and applied to British data, with negative conclusions. This paper applies the same "P"…

We use a rich administrative dataset from North Carolina to explore questions related to the relationship between teacher characteristics and credentials on the one hand and student achievement on the other. Though the basic questions underlying this research are not new--and, indeed, have been explored in many papers over the years within the…

Uses data from the National Adult Literacy Survey to examine the relationship between schooling and earnings. Basic skills are partitioned between those acquired through schooling and those acquired elsewhere. Finds that, for the most part, it is the substance of learning in school--the accumulated human capital--that counts, not the credential.…

In this paper, we use a unique data set that includes a panel of all teachers in North Carolina over a 4-year period (1996-1997 through 1999-2000) to describe the distribution of teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) across classrooms, schools, and districts. The sorting of National Board Certified…

Reviews the available evidence on the economic benefits of postsecondary education below the level of the baccalaureate degree, concentrating on the effects of community colleges. Results indicate substantial benefits for many kinds of postsecondary education. However, the economic benefits of small amounts of coursework are often zero and at best…

An analysis of the 1984, 1987, and 1990 Survey of Income and Program Participation shows that the benefits of sub-baccalaureate credentials (associate degrees and certificates) are generally positive and statistically significant. However, the benefits of completing some postsecondary education but failing to earn credentials are much lower,…

Examines differences in the pattern of sheepskin effects (possession of an academic diploma) across a full set of union, nonunion, public, and private labor markets. Sheepskin effects (and resultant screening evidence) are strongest in the private sector, nonunion labor markets and virtually absent in any public sector or unionized labor markets.…

Examines the relative importance of education credentials in consumer perceptions of self-employed business people. Using 1980 national cross-sectional data on goods- and service-producing occupations, the regression analysis shows that highly educated entrepreneurs are not influenced by consumer credentialism. Includes 17 references. (MLH)

Uses Greek data for 1981 and 1985 to test screening hypothesis by replicating method proposed by Psacharopoulos. Credentialism, or sheepskin effect of education, directly challenges human capital theory, which views education as a productivity augmenting process. Results do not support the strong version of the screening hypothesis and suggest…

Examines whether employers can infer information about workers' precollege abilities from acquired college credentials and value attainment of credentials because they signal these abilities. Analysis of 1993 National Longitudinal Study of Youth data reveals that employers value attainment of a bachelor's degree for these reasons. Academic degrees…