P. Wesley Routon

Military Service and the Civilian Labor Force Time- and Income-Based Evidence

The average American military enlistee is likely to differ from the average civilian in employment ambitions and prospects. Current research on veteran wages, however, only examines the effect of military service on average earnings. We employ quantile regression techniques to estimate the effect of military service for the above- and below-average earnings that veterans may experience. We draw data from two longitudinal surveys, one including veterans who served during 1980–1994 and the other including veterans of the early 21st-century wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. For the 21st-century cohort, we find that military service appears to increase wages at and below the median wage but decrease earnings at the high end of the distribution, although these benefits may take several years after service and entry into the civilian labor market to appear.

A Smart Break? College Tenure Interruption and Graduating Student Outcomes

Using data from a longitudinal survey of college students from over 400 institutions, we examine the impacts of occupational internship programs and voluntary academic leave on returning academic achievement, post-college ambitions, and general facets of the college experience. Previous literature on college internships has focused on labor market effects and the literature on academic leave has emphasized its causes. Much less has been done to analyze effects of these occurrences on collegiate outcomes. College internships are found to have a positive effect on grades, increase desires to work full-time or attend graduate school immediately following graduation, and slightly increase ambitions to have administrative responsibilities and be financially well off. Voluntary academic leave is found to have only negative effects on collegiate outcomes, including study habits and academic achievement upon return. Implied policy implications are that colleges and universities should champion internship programs but discourage college tenure interruption for other reasons.

The Opinions of Economics Majors before and after Learning Economics.

Abstract Using longitudinal data on undergraduates from 463 American colleges and universities from 1994–99, the authors examine how majoring in economics affects student opinions on 13 social, political, and economic issues. Economics majors were found to begin and end their college tenure with differing opinions on several issues when compared to other majors, and studying economics was found to be related to changes in several opinions. On the whole, studying economics appeared to increase beliefs in favor of personal freedom and decrease support for government intervention in markets. However, the authors find little evidence that economics majors leave college more united on their opinions when compared to the general student population.

Beyond the Ivory Tower: Labor Market Returns to Greek Membership

Using a nationally representative sample of college graduates, we estimate the post-collegiate labor market effects of fraternity and sorority membership during undergraduate tenure. We find that, after controlling for relevant factors, former sorority members’ labor market outcomes are indistinguishable from those of other female college graduates. Former fraternity membership, however, appears to result in an increased likelihood of self-employment of about 10 percentage points and a sizable wage premium. Former fraternity members are indistinguishable from other male college graduates in terms of labor market status, historical unemployment, subjective beliefs of personal job security, job satisfaction, and satisfaction with earnings.

The Skills Marketing Majors Believe They Acquire: Evidence From a National Survey:

Drawing from a panel survey of over 400,000 college graduates from over 600 different colleges and universities in the United States, this article addresses three questions related to skill change during college tenure. First, as judged by the students themselves, how much change in 15 skill categories do marketing majors experience during college? Second, how do these skill changes compare with those reported by other business majors and college students from all other majors? Finally, controlling for a host of relevant student and institutional characteristics, what is the impact of marketing education on the changes reported for each of these 15 skills? Findings indicate that marketing students’ perceptions of their own skill developments are generally very positive, but in some cases other business majors or the broader array of college students rated themselves more favorably. Taken in combination with employers’ contrasting perceptions of graduates’ workforce readiness, these results have implications for the improvement of marketing curricula and course design including greater emphasis on experiential learning and other opportunities for students to apply the knowledge they gain.

Is an economics degree good preparation for the LSAT

ABSTRACT Those aspiring to law school must first complete the Law School Admissions Test, or LSAT. When ranking undergraduate majors by mean LSAT scores, economics has proven to be near the very top, if not the number-one major, over the last two decades. The goal of this analysis is the search for additional evidence that an economics degree is good preparation for the LSAT beyond mean score comparisons. After controlling for pre-college academic ability, collegiate academic ability, variables related to law school aspirations, institutional characteristics, several collegiate experiences, and demographics, the author finds that an economics degree has a positive and statistically significant association with higher LSAT performance.

Helping Others, Helping Myself: Collegiate Experiences and Graduates’ Altruistic and Wealth Aspirations:

National statistics disclose that college graduates are more prone to volunteerism than nongraduates. These statistics motivate the question of exactly what college experiences are most likely to change a student’s altruistic goals and whether these same experiences alter a student’s self-interest. Using data from a longitudinal survey of American college students from 457 institutions of higher learning, we examine how the importance of altruistic acts and personal wealth aspirations changes during undergraduate tenure, and estimate the determinants of these changes. Among other results, we find major of study, certain collegiate activities, relative academic success, the ethnicity and background of roommates, institutional characteristics, and within-college labor market participation all play roles in shaping both the altruistic and personal wealth aspirations of individuals.

On the distributional and evolutionary nature of the obesity wage penalty

HighlightsWe examine the obesity wage penalty across the wage distribution and career.Quantile and fixed‐effect quantile regression control for unobserved heterogeneity.We find an increasingly severe penalty across the wages distribution for women.The obesity wage penalty has grown over time and may slow wage growth. Abstract The economics literature supports a link between labor market measures, such as earnings, and health conditions, such as obesity. There is reason to believe the effects of obesity on wages may vary for high‐ and low‐earning individuals and that obesity wage effects may evolve over a lifecycle or from generation to generation. Drawing on data from two longitudinal surveys, we estimate quantile and fixed effect quantile regressions, among others, to further examine the obesity wage effect. Results suggest an increasingly severe penalty across the wage distribution for females. Specifically, the highest‐earning women may be penalized as much as five times that of the lowest earners. Results for males suggest that penalties may be present at select wage levels, while prior research has generally found no male obesity penalty. We also provide evidence that the obesity penalty has increased across generations and limited evidence that it may slow earnings growth over one’s lifetime.

What Happens the Morning After? Post-Baccalaureate Health, Family, and Educational Outcomes of Fraternity and Sorority Members

Collegiate social Greek letter organizations, known as fraternities and sororities, are longstanding and prevalent fixtures on college and university campuses in the United States. Prior research has shown that membership alters academic performance, health-related behaviors, and social interactions during college. Here, we examine if membership also corresponds to similar post-baccalaureate outcomes. Among our primary findings, membership is shown to have no effect on the probability of post-college alcohol consumption, but increases the probability male drinkers consume what they consider “too much” when they do drink. For both genders, membership is also found to increase the probabilities of marrying a college graduate and obtaining a graduate degree.