Perceived and actual option values of college enrollment
利用Berea Panel Study数据，量化大学入学带来的期权价值，并区分实际期权价值与学生感知的期权价值，检验学生感知的准确性。
Summary An important feature of postsecondary schooling is the experimentation that accompanies sequential decision making. Specifically, by entering college, a student gains the option to decide at a future time whether it is optimal to remain in college or to drop out, after resolving uncertainty that existed at entrance about factors that affect the return to college. This paper uses data from the Berea Panel Study to quantify the value of this option. The unique nature of the data allows us to make a distinction between “actual” option values and “perceived” option values and to examine the accuracy of students' perceptions.