Mincer earnings functions for the Netherlands 1962–2012

We extract estimation results on the Mincer earnings function from four earlier studies and add new results from a recent dataset. We check for differences related to differences in earnings concepts and in sampling frame, to reduce bias in intertemporal comparison. Jointly, the studies show a clear U-shaped development in the rate of return to education from 1962 to 2012, with a bottom in the 1980s. We explain this from Tinbergens’s race between suppy and demand (schooling and technology) and suggest this may be a widespread international pattern. Returns to potential experience show no marked time trend. The paper has been presented at the CPB-OCW Workshop “Returns to education: research and policy”, The Hague, December 17 2015. We are grateful to Bas ter Weel and Harry Patrinos for comments on an earlier version and to Wiljan van den Berge and Dinand Webbink for providing us with their data. We also thank two anonymous referees for useful suggestions.