Title: University selectivity: does it correlate with graduates' wages? Evidence from Chile

Authors: Oscar Espinoza; Luis Sandoval; Luis Eduardo González; Noel McGinn

Addresses: Facultad de Educación y Humanidades, Universidad de Tarapacá, 18 de Septiembre 2222, Arica, Chile ' Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana, San Ignacio de Loyola, 160, Santiago, Chile ' Programa Interdisciplinario de Investigaciones en Educación (PIIE), María Luisa Santander 0510, Santiago, Chile ' School of Education, Harvard University, 38 Sheridan Road, Swampscott MA 01907, USA

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between university selectivity and graduates' wages. Holding other factors constant, do employers award higher salaries to graduates of universities that impose higher admission requirements? The study looks at wage returns to Chilean graduates in two different disciplines in three universities. The participants were 587 graduates. The results reveal a positive relationship between these factors at high and low selectivity, but not in the middle range. There is no concrete evidence that training in the higher selectivity university is of higher quality. The results advance our understanding of how higher education can contribute to income inequality, but are generalisable only to the two disciplines studied.

Keywords: university selectivity graduates; wages; income inequality; Chile.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEED.2022.121822

International Journal of Education Economics and Development, 2022 Vol.13 No.2, pp.154 - 170

Received: 17 Nov 2020
Accepted: 22 Dec 2020
Published online: 07 Apr 2022 *

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