Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11499/47571
Title: College majors and wages in Turkey: OLS and quantile regression with sample selection correction
Authors: Çiftçi, Cemil
Ulucan, Hakan
Keywords: College major
Higher education
Quantile regression
Sample selection
Wage differential
Publisher: Emerald Group Holdings Ltd.
Abstract: Purpose: This study aims to analyze the wage differentials of the majors in college education in Turkey, which is a country implementing an ongoing expansion in college education in recent years. Design/methodology/approach: The study implements Mincreian wage regression using ordinary least squares, Heckman two-step estimation and quantile regression with sample selection correction by using household labor force surveys of TurkStat from the years 2014–2017. Findings: The findings indicate one of the highest heterogeneity, close to 0.50 log points, between majors in the literature. The within-heterogeneity created by majors is highest among the graduates of social-behavioral sciences, law, biology, physics, mathematics, statistics, computer, engineering and manufacturing, as shown by a 90–10 difference, which is almost 700% for some of these majors. This study shows that the natural science and technical majors that are expected to be more productive and to be paid more fall behind in the wage distribution. Research limitations/implications: Estimation results show that natural science majors, except for subjects allied to medicine and engineering, are paid lower than law and service-sector-related majors. This indicates that the predictions of the skill-biased technical change hypothesis are not valid in the wage profiles in Turkey and that some majors supply more than the sectoral needs. This casts doubts on the effectiveness of the ongoing higher education expansion process of the country. Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature on wage differentials of college majors, an area with limited studies. This is the first study analyzing wage differentials of the field of studies by correcting sample selection bias for the Turkish case. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.
URI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJDI-02-2021-0047
https://hdl.handle.net/11499/47571
ISSN: 1446-8956
Appears in Collections:İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Koleksiyonu
Scopus İndeksli Yayınlar Koleksiyonu / Scopus Indexed Publications Collection

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