This special issue was inspired by Greg Duncan and Saul Hoffman's 1981 article on the "incidence and wage effects of overeducation." These researchers used a Mincer earnings equation to determine that a substantial number of American workers were over- or under-educated for their chosen occupations. (MLH)

Compares registered nurses' wage profiles across three types of educational backgrounds (two-, three-, and four-year programs), allowing for alternative construction of the work-experience variable and correcting for participation selectivity and choice-of-credential biases. Results suggest that estimated wage equations are quite sensitive to the…

Including family background variables in the wage equation significantly decreases estimated returns to a worker's own schooling. Using data on family members' schooling, this paper identifies family background's substantial effects on returns to schooling in Taiwan. The father's schooling is more important than the mother's in explaining wage…