Leaving school in an economic downturn and self-esteem across early and middle adulthood ¬リニ¬リニ¬リニ

In this study we test whether leaving school in an economic downturn impacts self-esteem. Self-esteem is an important dimension of non-cognitive skill that economists have recently begun to examine. Previous work documents that leaving school in a downturn persistently depresses career outcomes, and career success is an important determinant of self-esteem. We model responses to the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale as a function of the state unemployment rate at school-leaving. We address the potential endogeneity of time and location of schoolleaving with instrumental variables. Our results suggest that leaving school in an economic downturn lowers self-esteem men but effects do not emerge until middle adulthood, and are particularly strong for white and high skill men.