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The Review of Black Political Economy

, Volume 38, Issue 2, pp 103–130 | Cite as

The Relative Returns to Graduating from a Historically Black College/University: Propensity Score Matching Estimates from the National Survey of Black Americans

  • Gregory N. PriceEmail author
  • William Spriggs
  • Omari H. Swinton
Article
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Abstract

This paper considers the returns to earning a baccalaureate degree from a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) relative to a non-HBCU for black Americans. With data from the National Survey of Black Americans, we use propensity score matching estimators to estimate the treatment effect of graduating from an HBCU on direct labor market outcomes, and on psychological outcomes that indirectly increase wages. We find that the treatment effect of graduating from an HBCU relative to a non-HBCU is positive with respect to labor market and psychological outcomes across three decades. As our direct labor market outcome measure reflects permanent earnings, our results suggest that as HBCUs afford graduates relatively superior long-run returns they continue to have a compelling educational justification, as the labor market outcomes of their graduates are superior to what they would have been had they graduated from a non-HBCU.

Keywords

Black Colleges/Universities Labor market outcomes Matching estimators 

JEL Classification

I23 J01 J15 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank participants of the 3rd Annual Research Network on Race and Ethnic Inequality, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, March 28–30, 2008, and the 16th World Congress of The International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, July 27–31, 2009, Kunming, Peoples Republic of China for critical comments on earlier versions of this paper.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • Gregory N. Price
    • 1
    Email author
  • William Spriggs
    • 2
  • Omari H. Swinton
    • 2
  1. 1.Department of EconomicsMorehouse CollegeAtlantaUSA
  2. 2.Department of EconomicsHoward UniversityWashingtonUSA

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