nep-sog New Economics Papers
on Sociology of Economics
Issue of 2014‒06‒28
two papers chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration

  1. Rankings and university performance: a conditional multidimensional approach By Cinzia Daraio; Andrea Bonaccorsi; Leopold Simar
  2. Are we wasting our talent? Overqualification and overskilling among PhD graduates By Antonio Di Paolo; Ferran Mañé

  1. By: Cinzia Daraio (Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"); Andrea Bonaccorsi (Department of Electrical Systems and Automation, University of Pisa, Italy); Leopold Simar (Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics et Actuarial Sciences, Universite' Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium)
    Abstract: University rankings are the subject of a paradox: the more they are criticized by social scientists and experts on methodological grounds, the more they receive attention in policy making and the media. In this paper we attempt to give a contribution to the birth of a new generation of rankings, one that might improve on the current state of the art, by integrating new kind of information and using new ranking techniques. Our approach tries to overcome four main criticisms of university rankings, namely: monodimensionality; statistical robustness; dependence on university size and subject mix; lack of consideration of the input-output structure. We provide an illustration on European universities and conclude by pointing on the importance of investing in data integration and open data at European level both for research and for policy making.
    Keywords: Rankings; European universities; DEA; conditional directional distances; robust frontiers; bootstrap
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aeg:report:2014-09&r=sog
  2. By: Antonio Di Paolo (Grup d'Anàlisi Quantitativa Regional, AQR-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 690, 08034 Barcelona, Spain); Ferran Mañé (Universitat Rovira i Virgili & CREIP)
    Abstract: Drawing on a very rich data set from a recent cohort of PhD graduates, we examine the correlates and consequences of qualification and skills mismatch. We show that job characteristics such as the economic sector and the main activity at work play a fundamental direct role in explaining the probability of being well matched. However, the effect of academic attributes seems to be mainly indirect, since it disappears once we control for the full set of work characteristics. We detected a significant earnings penalty for those who are both overqualified and overskilled and also showed that being mismatched reduces job satisfaction, especially for those whose skills are underutilized. Overall, the problem of mismatch among PhD graduates is closely related to demand-side constraints of the labor market. Increasing the supply of adequate jobs and broadening the skills PhD students acquire during training should be explored as possible responses.
    Keywords: overskilling, overqualification, doctors, earnings, job satisfaction
    JEL: I20 J24 J28 J31
    Date: 2014–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrp:wpaper:xreap2014-06&r=sog

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