Description:

Matteo Magnaricotte (Northwestern): "College Licensing and Reputation Effects on the Labor Market"

ABSTRACT: "In this project, we study the effects of college quality signals on recent graduates' labor market outcomes. Between 2016 and 2021, Peru's government imposed new regulations aimed at shutting down predatory colleges, denying an operational license to 50 universities out of the existing 144. Using a new dataset on labor market outcomes of the 2014-2019 cohorts and taking advantage of the staggered timing of licensing decisions, we produce a preliminary analysis that shows a limited impact of the signals. This suggests that the new signals did not lead to a meaningful update of employers' beliefs. We will discuss our empirical approach and what might have led to the observed results."