title: Educational attainment and cohort size.
abstract: "We argue that the postwar baby boom [in the United States] caused substantial fluctuations in both the economic rewards to education and educational attainment over the last 3 decades.  If substitutability between young and old workers diminishes with education, the present value of lifetime earnings for a boom cohort is depressed more for highly educated workers, reducing incentives for educational attainment.  The opposite is true for pre- and postboom cohorts.  The diminishing substitutability hypothesis explains the declines in both the returns to college and college completion rates in the 1970s and predicts a substantial increase in educational attainment for postboomers."
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Stapleton
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Young
mesh_terms: D000569:Americas; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003710:Demography; D019049:Developed Countries; D003906:Developing Countries; D004467:Economics; D004493:Education; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005298:Fertility; D006280:Health Workforce; D009656:North America; D011153:Population; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011158:Population Growth; D012106:Research; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: Americas; Baby Boom; Cohort Analysis; Demographic Factors; Developed Countries; Developing Countries; Economic Factors; Education; Educational Status; Fertility; Human Resources; Labor Force; Macroeconomic Factors; North America; Northern America; Population; Population Dynamics; Research Methodology; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomic Status; United States