SCHOOLING AND EARNINGS IN THE UK - EVIDENCE FROM THE ROSLA EXPERIMENT

Recent work by Angrist and Krueger (1991,1992) utilised an ''experimen t'' to distinguish an individual's return to schooling where additiona l schooling is by choice compared to the return when extra schooling i s compulsory. Here we use a similar ''experiment'' generated by the ra ising of the school leaving age (ROSLA) from 15 to 16 in the mid-'70s in England and Wales. Preliminary estimates from the Family Expenditur e Survey over the period 1978-1986 suggest that for boys affected by R OSLA the effect of compulsory schooling is significantly less than tha t for elective schooling. In addition our estimates suggest that the l oss of experience associated with this imposed extra year of schooling could well imply a negative net return for boys. However the results for girls suggest that additional compulsory schooling has the same ef fect as elective schooling.