The major decision : Labor market implications of the timing of specialization in college

摘要: College students in the United States choose their major much later than counterparts Europe. American colleges also typically allow to when they wish make decision. In this paper [the authors] estimate benefits of such a policy: specifically, whether additional years multi-disciplinary education help better choice specialization, and at what cost foregone specialized human capital. [The first document that, cross section, who are more likely change fields on labor market. then build dynamic model college where optimal timing specialization reflects tradeoff between discovering comparative advantage acquiring occupation-specific skills.