Cebi, Merve. 2007. “Locus of Control and Human Capital Investment Revisited.” Journal of Human Resources 42(4): 919–932.
This paper examines the effect of teenagers’ outlooks—specified as their locus of control—on educational attainment and labor market outcomes. I replicate the study of Coleman and DeLeire (2003) and test the predictions of their theoretical model using a different data set—National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). The findings fail to support the predictions of the model and suggest that locus of control is not a significant determinant of educational outcomes once cognitive ability is controlled for; however, locus of control is rewarded in the labor market later in life.
Merve Cebi is a doctoral student in the department of economics at Michigan State University. He thanks Jeff Biddle, Thomas DeLeire, Joanne Lowery, Stephen Woodbury, and an anonymous referee for helpful comments. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning May 2008 through April 2011 from Merve Cebi at Michigan State University, Department of Economics, 110 Marshall-Adams Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824-1038 (email: cebimerv@msu.edu).