The returns to medical school: Evidence from admission lotteries
Edwin Leuven, Nadine Ketel, Hessel Oosterbeek and Bas Van Der Klaauw
Photo: American Economic Association
Published in:
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, volume 8, issue 2, pp. 225-254, April 2016.
DOI: 10.1257/app.20140506
Abstract
We exploit admission lotteries to estimate the returns to medical school in the Netherlands. Using data from up to 22 years after the lottery, we find that in every single year after graduation doctors earn at least 20 percent more than people who end up in their next-best occupation. Twenty-two years after the lottery the earnings difference is almost 50 percent. Only a small fraction of this difference can be attributed to differences in working hours and human capital investments. The returns do not vary with gender or ability, and shift the entire earnings distribution.