We analyze whether field of study assigned at age 16 impacts mental health in adulthood. Using a regression discontinuity design that exploits GPA cut-offs, we find that admission to the preferred study field improves mental health, lowering both the incidence of antidepressant prescriptions and of mental health-related hospitalizations. Engineering contributes strongly but not uniquely to the positive results. As for mechanisms, earnings explain 40% of the estimates, but earlier proposed hypotheses based on school-age peer characteristics have little explanatory power. Our findings imply that restrictions on individuals’ choices, to improve human capi tal allocations, entail costs that may have been underestimated.

This paper estimates family spillovers in high school major choice in Sweden, where admission to oversubscribed majors is determined based on GPA. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find large sibling and intergenerational spillovers that depend on the sex mix of a dyad. Same-sex siblings copy one another, while younger brothers recoil from an older sister's choices. Fathers and mothers influence sons but not their daughters, except when a mother majors in the male-dominated program of engineering. Back-of-the-envelope calculations reveal that these within-family spillovers have sizable implications for the sex composition of majors.

We study how high school majors affect adult earnings using a regression discontinuity design. In Sweden students are admitted to majors in tenth grade based on their preference rankings and ninth grade GPA. We find engineering, natural science, and business majors yield higher earnings than social science and humanities, with major-specific returns also varying based on next-best alternatives. There is either a zero or a negative return to completing an academic program for students with a second-best nonacademic major. Most of the differences in adult earnings can be attributed to differences in occupation, and to a lesser extent, college major.

This paper estimates family spillovers in high school major choice in Sweden, where admission to oversubscribed majors is determined based on GPA. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find large sibling and intergenerational spillovers that depend on the gender mix of a dyad. Same-gender siblings copy one another, while younger brothers recoil from older sister's choices. Fathers and mothers influence sons, but not their daughters, except when a mother majors in the male-dominated program of Engineering. Back of the envelope calculations reveal these within family spillovers have sizable implications for the gender composition of majors.

Evaluations of adults in formal education (AE) are typically based on earnings measured 5-10 years after program enrollment. This paper estimates returns up to 24 years after enrollment, and explore results for 15 cohorts of first-time registered in AE in Sweden 1994-2008 with at least a 10-year follow-up period. The results indicate substantially higher payoffs in absolute terms after the maximum length of follow-up compared with after 10 years. There is also weak support that multiplier effects increase the percentage returns to AE over time, regardless of gender or whether the level of AE is college or high school. 

Evaluations of adults in formal education (AE) are typically based on earnings measured 5-10 years after pro-gram enrollment. This paper uses propensity score matching to estimate returns up to 24 years after enrollment, and explore results for 15 cohorts of AE enrollees in Sweden 1994-2008 with at least a 10-year follow-up period. The results indicate substantially higher payoffs in absolute terms after the maximum length of follow-up compared with after 10 years. There is weak support that multiplier effects increase the percentage returns to AE over time, regardless of gender or whether the level of AE is college or high school.

In their study of relative income within US households, Bertrand et al. (2015, Quarterly Journal of Economics 130, 571–614) show that the distribution of the wife's share of household income drops sharply where the wife starts earning more than her husband. They attribute the drop to a gender norm prescribing that a wife's income should not exceed her husband's income. We document a similar drop in Swedish data. However, we also show that there is a spike where spouses earn exactly the same. Excluding the equal-earning spouses, the drop is small and mostly statistically insignificant. We conclude that, if anything, we find only weak evidence that Swedish couples comply with this gender norm.

Denna studie använder unika data som gör det möjligt att utvärdera kausala effekter på arbetsinkomster vid 38 års ålder för de fem högskoleförberedande linjerna som fanns på gymnasiet 1977–91. Resultaten visar överlag positiva effekter av teknisk, ekonomisk och naturvetenskaplig linje, i flera fall motsvarande vad man funnit för ytterligare två utbildningsår, men för samhällsvetenskaplig och humanistisk linje finner vi i flera fall lika stora negativa effekter som indikerar att individernas inkomster skulle varit högre om de i stället antagits till sitt andrahandsval. Kvinnor är kraftigt överrepresenterade i utbildningar med negativ avkastning. Den huvudsakliga mekanismen bakom resultaten är att gymnasieutbildning påverkar yrkesval.

International bodies such as the EU and the OECD have repeatedly advocated improved opportunities for adults to improve their schooling. However, formal education for adults is expensive, particularly in terms of foregone earnings, and the returns to society and the individual is uncertain. Until recently, there is only scant evidence on the labor market impacts of post-secondary education for adults outside the US. This paper focuses on the earnings effects of higher vocational education (HVE) in Sweden.

This paper estimates peer effects both from older to younger siblings and from parents to children in academic fields of study. Our setting is secondary school in Sweden, where admissions to oversubscribed fields is determined based on a student's GPA. Using an RD design, we find strong spillovers in field choices that depend on the gender mix of siblings and whether the field is gender conforming. There are also large intergenerational effects from fathers and mothers to sons, except in female-dominated fields, but little effect for daughters. These spillovers have long-term consequences for occupational segregation and wage gaps by gender.