An Economic Model of Locus of Control and the Human Capital Investment Decision
构建经济模型，研究青少年控制点（即对自身行为与结果因果关系的信念）如何影响其高中毕业和大学入学决策，并利用NELS数据实证发现控制点通过影响对人力资本回报的预期发挥作用。
This paper presents an economic model of how teenagers ’ outlooks–specifically their locus of control–affects human capital investments. Locus of control, or internal-external attitudes, is a psychological measure of a person’s belief regarding the causal relationship between their own behavior and outcomes. The effect of eighth graders ’ locus of control on their subsequent decisions to complete high school and to attend college is empirically examined using the National Education Longitudinal Study. The results indicate that locus of control does indeed strongly influence the decision to graduate from high school. The model has testable implications that distinguish it from a model in which locus of control is a proxy for unobserved ability. The empirical results suggest that locus of control operates through teenagers ’ expectations of the returns to human capital investments. In most economic models of the decision to complete high school or attend college, individuals weigh the benefits of continuing schooling against those of dropping out. Economic models have typically ignored teenagers ’ outlooks as a factor relating to their educational decisions.