The Effect of Family Background, University Quality and Mismatch on Wage: An Analysis Using a Young Cohort of Itlian Graduates

This paper analyzes the impact of university quality, family background and mismatch on wages of young Italian graduates. An empirical analysis is undertaken using a representative sample of graduates merged with a data set containing information on universities’ characteristics. By utilizing quantile regression techniques, it is reported some evidence on the impact of factors that may explain earnings’differentials among individuals with a similar educational attainment. Significant differences in the impact of explanatory variables across quantiles of the wage distribution are found and the role played by educational quality, family background and educational mismatch is stressed. These findings are consistent with a polarized view of the labor market where some educated workers earn a wage premium deriving from their specific educational choices while others are confined into occupations at the bottom end of the wage distribution.