Sex-Based Differences in School Content and the Male/Female Wage Gap / Charles Brown, Mary Corcoran.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, Charles.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Corcoran, Mary.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w5580.

NBER working paper series no. w5580

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1996.

Summary:

In high school and in college, men and women take significantly different courses. Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and the National Longitudinal Study Class of 1972, we relate these differences in school content to sex differences in adult wages. Differences in field of highest degree account for a significant part of the male-female wage gap among college graduates, but differences in coursework account for very little of the equally large wage gap between men and women with less schooling. We find little consistent evidence that men receive larger rewards for taking traditionally male rather than traditionally female courses and majors, though there is some indication of this for college graduates.

Notes:

Print version record

May 1996.