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Matthias Rieger
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Publisher: Journals Gateway
Education Finance and Policy (2020) 15 (2): 292–309.
Published: 01 March 2020
Abstract
View articletitled, Gray University Degrees: Experimental Evidence from India
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for article titled, Gray University Degrees: Experimental Evidence from India
Scams involving university degrees are flourishing in many emerging markets. Using a resume experiment in India, this paper studies the impact of gray degrees , or potentially bought academic credentials from questionable universities, on callback rates to job applications. The experiment varied the type of degree (no, gray, and authentic) in online applications to entry-level jobs that require no university qualification. We find that gray degrees increase callback rates by 42 percent or 8 percentage points relative to having no degree. However, we also document that gray degrees fare on average worse than authentic degrees. These empirical patterns are consistent with a model where employers have beliefs about the authenticity of degrees and are discounting gray-degree universities probabilistically. We discuss our findings with respect to the Indian context.
Includes: Supplementary data