The impact of university prestige in the labor market. Evidence from a field experiment in the labor market

​This paper presents the results of a field experiment of the labor market that tests if employers prioritize the signal associated with the name of the university students graduated from above their skills in the selection process. The results are based on callbacks to 2,400 fictitious job application submissions in two skill intensive sectors of the labor market: IT and Accounting and in three countries: United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Results suggest that, while controlling for social capital effects, university prestige does not compensate for lack of relevant skills in the labor market.