The Growing Importance of Cognitive Skills in Wage Determination
基于美国高中毕业生的纵向调查数据，研究发现基础认知技能对1986年24岁男女工资的影响大于1978年，且对女性而言，认知技能回报的增长完全解释了高等教育工资溢价的上升。
Using data from two longitudinal surveys of American high school seniors, we show that basic cognitive skills had a larger impact on wages for 24-year-old men and women in 1986 than in 1978. For women, the increase in the return to cognitive skills between 1978 and 1986 accounts for all of the increase in the wage premium associated with post-secondary education. We also show that high school seniors' mastery of basic cognitive skills had a much smaller impact on wages two years after graduation than on wages six years after graduation.