Do they understand the benefits from education? Evidence on Dutch high school students' earnings expectations

Using an internet collected dataset, we will provide some empirical evidence on the level of knowledge that Dutch high school students possess before their decision on tertiary education participation. We will assess the awareness of the risky nature of such an investment and if a compensation for it is required. We extend our analysis to check whether students possess private information they exploit in forming their expectations and which factors influence their expectations. Our finding points towards systematic female lower expectations. Our internet survey shows to be prone to attrition and, to a lesser extent, inconsistent reporting of probability distributions.