Gender Gaps in Expected Wages: Implications for College Choice Theory and Public Policy

• In Event: The Influence of Policy on College Choice

Abstract

In the human capital framework underlying much of college choice theory, individuals' estimates of their future earnings have meaningful implications for postsecondary choice making. With a focus on how those estimates vary across gender, this analysis looks at what students expect to earn compared to what they are likely to earn in reality and then explores the implications of these “expectation gaps” for research and policy. Using data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 and the U.S. Census 2012 American Community Survey, the study’s analysis finds that young women systematically overestimate baccalaureate degree earnings compared to what they would actually earn, but their expectations are still far below what young men either expect to earn or actually earn.

Author

• Grant Blume, University of Washington