James Heckman elaborated on the rewards of education

"Your level of education has great impact on the rest of your life", said James Heckman in the Sandmo Lecture on 13 January 2015.

13.01.2015 - Astri Kamsvåg

The main question that Professor Heckman asked at the Sandmo Lecture was: What is 'the' causal effect of education?

In the lecture Heckman presented his research that documents the impact of education on a set of aspects. For instance are high-school drop outs more prone to smoke, to commit crime, to be depressed, to be welfare recipients, to divorce, to not vote, to have bad physical health, among other things, than those who complete high school.

The higher a person's education level is, the better are her/his chances to succeed in the various aspects of life. His research deals with the economic rewards of making specific choices at certain ages.

He presented econometric models which estimate the ex-post causal effects of schooling at different stages of the life cycle education decision process using a rich set of covariates to control for selection bias.

Read more about the Sandmo Lecture by James Heckman on Paraplyen

Read about the Sandmo Lectures

James Heckman and Agnar Sandmo.

James Heckman and Frode Steen, Head of Department of Economics.

The audience listening carefully.

Professor Emeritus Agnar Sandmo and his wife, Tone, during the lecture.