Signalling or Human Capital: Evidence from the Finnish Polytechnic School Reform
利用芬兰理工学院改革数据，研究发现改革提升了理工学院毕业生的收入，但职业院校毕业生相对收入下降，这支持了教育作为信号传递的理论。
Abstract We use data from the Finnish polytechnic reform to distinguish between human capital and signalling theories of the value of education. We find that the reform increased the earnings of polytechnic graduates compared with those graduating from the same schools before the reform, as predicted by both the human capital and the signalling models. However, we also find that the relative earnings of vocational college graduates decrease after polytechnic graduates start entering the labour market. This finding is inconsistent with the pure human capital model and can be interpreted as evidence that supports the signalling model.