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Title: Factors Affecting College Completion and Student Ability in the US since 1900

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2013

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Abstract: We develop a dynamic lifecycle model to study the increases in college completion and average IQ of college students in cohorts born from 1900 to 1972. The model is disciplined in part by constructing a historical time series on real college costs from printed government documents covering this time period. The main result is that the model captures nearly all of the increase in attainment from 1900 to 1950, and half is accounted for by a decrease in college costs during this period. The rise in average college student IQ cannot be accounted for without a decrease in the variance of ability signals, which we attribute to the rise in standardized testing.

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Authors: Donovan, Kevin; Herrington, Christopher

Publisher: Arizona State University

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education

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