In this video, Petra Sauer (LIS, LISER) is presenting research which is conducted within the (LIS)2ER initiative, and which inspired the topic of the workshop. Based on a comparative study of 25 OECD countries, she showed that the majority of countries has expanded higher education by increasing the share of the population obtaining a Bachelor degree. Since Master and PhD levels have remained relatively exclusive, the implications for inequality in the distribution of labour income are more pronounced at these levels. Moreover, higher education expansion is driven by female education while male attainment has been stable recently. Women thus attain higher education levels then men in all affluent countries, and distributive effects are reverse: higher attainment of females contributes to a more equal distribution of labour income; higher attainment of males exerts disequalizing effects.
