Adam Reiremo

PhD Candidate in Economics
University of Oslo

Ongoing Research

Field of Study, Comparative Advantage, and College Admission Policies

College applicants with similar grade point averages (GPAs) can possess vastly different field-specific skills. In this paper, I provide new evidence on systematic heterogeneity in the returns to different fields of study by college applicants’ pre-admission field-specific skills. This evidence allows me to provide a rich description of the extent of comparative advantages in college education. Using regression discontinuity designs, I compare applicants located close to admission thresholds in Norwegian higher education institutions to estimate returns to different fields of study. Specifically, I focus on applicants’ math and language skills extracted from high school diplomas, and provide evidence on heterogeneous impacts on graduation rates, time-to-completion, and post-graduate earnings. I find that marginal applicants with higher math grades have a significant comparative advantage in STEM fields, as compared to applicants with similar GPA but lower math grades. Whether and not policymakers should prioritize students based on their comparative advantage, however, depends on the collateral impacts of priority rules on the pool of available applicants to other programs. To shed light on this, I simulate counterfactual allocations of students to programs following a hypothetical reform that targets applicants with high math scores to STEM programs. This evidence has important implications for the optimal design of college admission policies.

Working Papers

The Anatomy of Mismatch in the College Market

Both the availability of college education and the demand for college skills have expanded rapidly over the past decades in most countries. However, it remains an open question whether the increasing number of college-educated workers are able to successfully match with jobs where college skills are rewarded. Using rich Norwegian administrative data, I provide evidence on the evolution of mismatch in the college market. I further decompose the overall college mismatch into (i) a structural mismatch that captures misalignment between underlying demand and supply, (ii) a geographical component, and (iii) a within-location assignment component. Over the past two decades, overall mismatch in the college market has remained relatively stable, affecting about 20% of workers, despite large shifts in both the demand and supply of college workers. I further show that within-location assignment mismatch can account for more than two-thirds of the overall mismatch and its relative contribution has remained relatively unchanged. This evidence points to the vital role of reassignment policies that improve matching in the college market.

The Pay and Non-Pay Content of Job Ads

With Richard Audoly and Manudeep Bhuller

We shed light on the pay and non-pay content of job ads using a comprehensive database of vacancies posted by Norwegian employers. We develop a methodology to systematically classify information on pay and non-pay job attributes that are publicly advertised in vacancy texts, and combine this with a revealed preference approach to estimate workers’ valuation of employers from observed pay and job-to-job flows. This allows us to study the types of job attributes offered by good employers and quantify how well employer pay premiums and amenities can be predicted by job attributes retrieved from vacancy texts. About 55% of job ads provide some pay-related information, while nearly all ads feature some information on non-pay attributes. High pay employers mention pay-related attributes more often, while high amenity employers mention flexible working hours and permanent contracts more. We show that publicly advertised job attributes are meaningful predictors of employer ranks, and that non-pay attributes are about as predictive as pay-related attributes. In light of recent policy proposals aimed at improving pay transparency in job postings, our quantitative evidence suggests that publicly advertised information on both pay and non-pay attributes can have implications for the strength and direction of job-to-job flows.