This study empirically investigates the roles of various frictions in the field-of-study choice in higher education, and the implications on current educational policies. On the supply side, institutional constraints may distort the required adjustment of educational supply across majors within universities. And, on the demand side, informational frictions on market returns and own comparative advantage may distort students’ application decisions. The current matching mechanism for college admissions which clears the market may cause additional inefficiency.

The empirical investigation yields the following findings: the government control of university-level enrollment quotas in Seoul and the vicinity slows the adjustment of major-specific enrollment quotas within those universities; lifetime earnings significantly differ across majors, and the enrollment quotas for special majors such as health and education play a key role in the differences; the timing of field-of-study decision can alter the field-of-study at graduation; a significant proportion of college freshmen want to change their college and major, mainly due to bad luck in college admissions and partly due to incomplete information on their comparative advantage; and finally, while the expected earnings by college freshmen are close to the actual earnings of past graduates, the accuracy of the prediction is highly heterogeneous by student characteristics.

After reviewing existing educational institutions and policies, this study make suggestions to promote field choice in the direction of improving social welfare.

Preface
Executive Summary

Chapter 1 Introduction

Part 1 Current Status and Issues

Chapter 2 Mismatch Between University Majors and Occupations: International Comparison
　Section 1 Major-Occupation Mismatch
　Section 2 Definition of Mismatch
　Section 3 Data-Based Mismatch Analysis

Chapter 3 Current Status and Issues in Korean Higher Education
　Section 1 Admissions
　Section 2 Graduation
　Section 3 Conclusion

Part 2 Constraints on Educational Supply

Chapter 4 Aggregate Quota Regulation and Major-Specific Quota Allocation Issues
　Section 1 Problem Statement
　Section 2 Aggregate Quota Regulation for Private Universities in the Seoul Metropolitan Area
　Section 3 Data
　Section 4 Econometric Model
　Section 5 Estimation Results
　Section 6 Robustness Checks
　Section 7 Additional Discussion: Differences by Major
　Section 8 Conclusion

Chapter 5 Differences in Lifetime Earnings by Major
　Section 1 Lifetime Earnings by Major and Field-of-Study Choice
　Section 2 Literature Review
　Section 3 Data
　Section 4 Estimation Model
　Section 5 Estimation Results
　Section 6 Discussion: Major-Specific Quota Regulation

Chapter 6 Timing of Major Selection in Higher Education
　Section 1 Problem Statement
　Section 2 Literature Review
　Section 3 Institutional Background: Broad and Specialized Admissions
　Section 4 Data
　Section 5 Econometric Model: Difference-in-Differences Regression
　Section 6 Estimation Results
　Section 7 Robustness Verification
　Section 8 Conclusion

Part 3 Constraints on Educational Demand

Chapter 7 Survey of University Freshmen: The Process of Choosing a Major
　Section 1 Introduction: Major Selection Process
　Section 2 Survey Overview
　Section 3 Survey Results (1): High School Education Experience and Major Choice
　Section 4 Survey Results (2): University Admissions
　Section 5 Survey Results (3): Current College Life and Future Plans

Chapter 8 In-Depth Analysis of the Freshmen Survey
　Section 1 Subjective Probability of Changing University or Major
　Section 2 Mismatch Induced by Current Educational Curriculum and Admissions System
　Section 3 Students’ Employment Expectations

Part 4 Current Educational Policies and Improvement Directions

Chapter 9 Current Educational Policies and Suggested Improvements
　Section 1 Supply-Side Policies
　Section 2 Demand-Side Policies
　Section 3 Conclusion

References
Appendix
ABSTRACT