UC Davis

In chapter 1, this dissertation investigates how promotion policies impact advanced education attainment on employees throughout a career. Using administrative data from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), I leverage a natural experiment where academic credentials were permanently masked from promotion consideration. I show the policy influenced the premium of a graduate degree for career advancement opportunities. I then exploit an event study and difference-in-differences design to find employees are 14 percentage points less likely to complete a master's degree when education credentials are no longer considered for promotion. I also show attendance at for-profit institutions declined substantially after the policy reform.

In chapter 2, I examine workplace peer effects on advanced education attainment. Using administrative data from the DoD and conditional exogeneous assignment of employees to workplace, I provide empirical evidence that coworkers’ education investment behavior increases the likelihood of using Employer-Provided Educational Assistance (EPEA) benefits to start and eventually complete a graduate degree.

In chapter 3, I analyze trainees' ordinal rank across cognitive and physical ability within an initial job training program. Using administrative data from the DoD and conditional random assignment of trainees to peer groups, I test whether rank effects vary across contemporaneous training and long-term career outcomes. I find cognitive ordinal rank, measured by an individual's score on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT), has a meaningful impact on completing initial training into the U.S. Air Force (USAF). I also show physical ordinal rank, measured by an individual's initial fitness score, also affects initial job training performance. Both sets of ranking effects impact follow-on disciplinary outcomes and vary by gender.