ABSTRACT

This article studies a sample of displaced workers during the deep 1990s recession in Sweden and estimates the effect of secondary-level adult education on tertiary-level educational attainment. Plant closures and mass layoffs are used to identify job separations unrelated to individual productivity. Results indicate a large positive effect of general adult education on displaced workers’ further investment in human capital by continuing on to university education. These findings offer some explanation of findings in previous research, i.e. slow recovery of post-treatment earnings among workers enrolled in adult education, with positive treatment effects on earnings emerging in the long run.

摘要

本文研究了瑞典 20 世纪 90 年代深度经济衰退期间失业工人的样本，并估计了中等成人教育对高等教育程度的影响。工厂关闭和大规模裁员用于确定与个人生产力无关的工作离职。结果表明，普通成人教育对失业工人继续接受大学教育对人力资本的进一步投资产生了巨大的积极影响。这些发现为之前的研究结果提供了一些解释，即参加成人教育的工人治疗后收入恢复缓慢，但从长远来看，治疗对收入产生积极的影响。