The sheepskin effect (named for the vellum on which diplomas were traditionally written)[1] is a phenomenon in applied economics observing that people possessing a completed academic degree earn a greater income than people who have an equivalent amount of studying without possessing an academic degree.[2] There are many applied economics papers which investigate the signaling effect of possession of such an academic degree.
For example, if Student A is one credit short of a Bachelor's degree, while Student B has earned their Bachelor's degree, then the two students have essentially the same amount of education. However, according to the sheepskin effect, Student B will earn a greater income than Student A.
Research into the sheepskin effect can be divided into studies of explicit degree effects and, because many of the useful data sets don't explicitly report degrees, studies with no explicit degree measures. The latter typically use 12 years of education as a proxy for a high school diploma and 16 years as a proxy for a Bachelor's degree.[3] A review of a quarter century of quantitative studies of both kinds finds consistent evidence of the sheepskin effect in all but a few studies. An analysis of data from the massive General Social Survey indicates that over 60% of the economic benefit of an education comes from the actual degree rather than the years or credits earned - especially in high school and college.[4]
^Russ Roberts. "Bryan Caplan on College, Signaling and Human Capital". Liberty Fund Inc. Retrieved 2022-07-24.
^Jaeger, David A. and Marianne E. Page (1996) Degrees Matter: New Evidence on Sheepskin Effects in the Returns to Education. The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 78, No. 4, pp. 733-740 JSTOR: 2109960
^Hungerford, T. and Solon, G., (1987). Sheepskin effects in the returns to education. The Review of Economics and Statistics, pp.175-177. JSTOR: 1937919
^Caplan, B. (2018). The Case Against Education. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-17465-5. Pages 97-102 and footnotes.
The sheepskineffect (named for the vellum on which diplomas were traditionally written) is a phenomenon in applied economics observing that people possessing...
courses that offer easy As, instead of more difficult courses The sheepskineffect seems to be fairly large (p. 97-102) Transfer of learning to other...
positive for HIV; industry clinic officials confirm a quarantine is in effect". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved...
life on British TV and in the press, especially when worn in sheepskin or camel hair. Sheepskin was the style favoured by Del Boy in Only Fools & Horses and...
Louisiana, an unincorporated community in the United States Mouton fur, a sheepskin that has been made to resemble beaver or seal Mouton de Gruyter, a scholarly...
the moon goddess Selene. He accomplished this by wrapping himself in a sheepskin to hide his hairy black goat form, and drew her down from the sky into...
(sometimes called uggs) in Australia and New Zealand are a unisex style of sheepskin boot. In many other countries, however, UGG boots are a brand of footwear...
[ασκίτης]), meant "bag‐like dropsy," from askós (ἀσκός), a leather bag or sheepskin (“wineskin”) used for carrying wine, water or oil. Mild ascites is hard...
detachable fur collar; a zip had replaced buttons. This was paired with sheepskin-lined knee high suede boots and a quilted liner could be added. All this...
similar to standard textile than the later kaunakes , which looks more like sheepskin with ample bell-shaped volume around the waist and the legs. Cylinder...
her pantyhose beneath it. While her lower legs were protected by the sheepskin Ugg boots she was wearing, the accident caused life-threatening third-degree...
delusions and the local farmer's ailments as he attempts to sell off sheepskins. Pippa, the new headteacher at the local school, is enthusiastic over...
BC in a Danish bog, which mummified him. He wore a pointed cap made of sheepskin and wool, fastened under the chin by a hide thong. St. Clement, the patron...
called kav kaz. The men – five to a team – played on horseback with a sheepskin-covered ball. The Greater Cleveland area had six or seven teams. The game...
Extremely glossy, shiny finish, often made in more readily available sheepskin, although true kidskin makes better quality glacé kid. Gold (or silver)...
form of encasement. Graphite sticks were initially wrapped in string or sheepskin for stability. England would enjoy a monopoly on the production of pencils...
article in To Proto Thema, a Greek Sunday newspaper, in which he accused "Sheepskin", the Greek branch of Gladio, NATO's stay-behind paramilitary organization...
aristocracy, while fox, hare and beaver clothed the middle, and goat, wolf and sheepskin the lower. Fur was primarily used for visible linings, with species varied...
York: Limited Editions Club, 1943. Limited edition bound in linen and sheepskin. Introduction by Joseph Henry Jackson. Illustrations by Paul Landacre...
1 mi (1.6 km). Accuracy was achieved by using wadded shots wrapped in sheepskin with ready-measured stacks of powder. Unlike the European powder, the...
important symbols of Qiang religion, known as the duangong's tools: the sheepskin drum and a preserved a monkey skull, known as the AbaMullah. Duangongs...
that may be a piece of an old book, a related bookbinder, and a piece of sheepskin parchment with markings that looked like medieval text on it A human bone...
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