Educational Choices and Economic Outcomes: Essays on Pathways from Schooling to the Workforce

Abstract

This dissertation examines how educational choices, shaped by policies, opportunities, and institutions, affect individuals’ long-term economic outcomes. Across three distinct studies, I investigate how targeted interventions at key decision points, including merit-based scholarship offers, access to computer science courses, or exposure to impactful teachers, can act as powerful nudges that influence students’ pathways from schooling to the workforce. While each chapter focuses on a different stage of the educational pipeline, together they demonstrate how even modest changes in educational environments or incentives can have lasting effects on college attainment, field of study, and earnings. The findings contribute new evidence on the consequences of education policy and reinforce the importance of aligning such policies with broader goals of economic mobility and equity.