The Million Dollar Law Degree, Powerpoint Presentation by Michael Simkovic, Frank McIntyre :: SSRN:
Download Powerpoint HERE
We improve upon previous studies by tracking lifetime earnings of a large sample of law degree holders. Previous studies focused on starting salaries, generic professional degree holders, or the subset of law degree holders who practice law. We also include unemployment and disability risk rather than assume continuous full time employment.
After controlling for observable ability sorting, we find that a law degree is associated with a 60 percent median increase in monthly earnings and 50 percent increase in median hourly wages. The mean annual earnings premium of a law degree is approximately $53,300 in 2012 dollars. The law degree earnings premium is cyclical and recent years are within historic norms.
We estimate the mean pre-tax lifetime value of a law degree as approximately $1,000,000.
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Buried lede of this article - *40%!* of studied JDs *not working as lawyers*.
ReplyDeleteReally calls into question whether or not that JD is responsible for "million dollar" premium.