Developing a model of the returns to higher education for individuals' subjective well-being (SWB)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Psychology
Abstract
The proposed research will develop and test a model of the returns to higher education for individuals' subjective well-being (SWB), with a particular focus on effects of the subjects that individuals study and the institutions that they attend. The project capitalises on the availability to the investigators of a unique new dataset: this year for the first time items on SWB will be included in the "Destination of Leavers from Higher Education" longitudinal survey, and this inclusion will provide the opportunity for the first detailed examination of the subject- and institution-specific effects of higher education on SWB.
Such an analysis is important both for public policy formulation and to inform and enrich student choice. In many areas of policy there has been considerable recent interest in the use of SWB data to supplement, or perhaps in some cases even supplant, conventional "Green Book" monetary valuations (e.g. Legatum Institute, 2014; Layard et al., 2016). However recent interest on the returns to higher education for the individual have concentrated primarily on the earnings of graduates, with for example Britton et al. (2016) showing that these vary across university attended and subject studied. There is therefore a clear need for detailed data on the effects of higher education on SWB. Many studies have examined the relation of economic factors, particularly income, on SWB, and several of these studies have also found effects of overall educational level on some dimensions of SWB (primarily the cognitive/evaluation dimension of "life satisfaction"). However, due to limitations in the quality of available large datasets, none of these studies have been able to report more detailed analysis of, for example, the effects of institution, NSS rating, REF ratings, and subject of study on SWB. Moreover, research to date has generally failed to acknowledge the multidimensional nature of SWB (e.g., income predicts life satisfaction but not happiness: Kahneman & Deaton, 2012). Such analyses will, for the first time, be made possible by the availability of our new data which will become available in 2017.
Key questions to be addressed include:
1) Are there returns to higher education for SWB?
2) Which dimensions of SWB (e.g., cognitive vs. affective) are most affected?
3) Can such returns be distinguished from returns to income and effects of employment type (e.g., engagement in more meaningful work), which will themselves both influence SWB?
4) How do effects on SWB differ as a function of subject studied and institution attended?
5) Do NSS and REF scores, and/or other characteristics of attended institutions and departments (such as size) influence SWB?
6) Can a direct causal role between varieties of higher education experience and subsequent SWB be established?
7) How good are potential future students at forecasting returns to higher education?
[...]
Such an analysis is important both for public policy formulation and to inform and enrich student choice. In many areas of policy there has been considerable recent interest in the use of SWB data to supplement, or perhaps in some cases even supplant, conventional "Green Book" monetary valuations (e.g. Legatum Institute, 2014; Layard et al., 2016). However recent interest on the returns to higher education for the individual have concentrated primarily on the earnings of graduates, with for example Britton et al. (2016) showing that these vary across university attended and subject studied. There is therefore a clear need for detailed data on the effects of higher education on SWB. Many studies have examined the relation of economic factors, particularly income, on SWB, and several of these studies have also found effects of overall educational level on some dimensions of SWB (primarily the cognitive/evaluation dimension of "life satisfaction"). However, due to limitations in the quality of available large datasets, none of these studies have been able to report more detailed analysis of, for example, the effects of institution, NSS rating, REF ratings, and subject of study on SWB. Moreover, research to date has generally failed to acknowledge the multidimensional nature of SWB (e.g., income predicts life satisfaction but not happiness: Kahneman & Deaton, 2012). Such analyses will, for the first time, be made possible by the availability of our new data which will become available in 2017.
Key questions to be addressed include:
1) Are there returns to higher education for SWB?
2) Which dimensions of SWB (e.g., cognitive vs. affective) are most affected?
3) Can such returns be distinguished from returns to income and effects of employment type (e.g., engagement in more meaningful work), which will themselves both influence SWB?
4) How do effects on SWB differ as a function of subject studied and institution attended?
5) Do NSS and REF scores, and/or other characteristics of attended institutions and departments (such as size) influence SWB?
6) Can a direct causal role between varieties of higher education experience and subsequent SWB be established?
7) How good are potential future students at forecasting returns to higher education?
[...]
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Gordon Brown (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Sidney Sherborne (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000711/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2027 | |||
| 2734008 | Studentship | ES/P000711/1 | 02/10/2017 | 31/12/2021 | Sidney Sherborne |