Graduates from renowned high school can get advantages in the labor
market, because they may have social networks with high-positioned seniors.
To analyze the question whether the graduation from renowned high school
makes the causal effect on the labor market wage, this paper uses the unique
historical experience as it is called ‘high school equalization policy’ in Korea.
The Education-Labor Market Lifecycle Data investigated by KRIVET (Korea
Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training) is used in this
analysis. The result shows that graduates from renowned high school receive
higher wage, even though all the students have been randomly allocated to
individual high schools after equalization policy period. Especially to graduates
just after the implementation of equalization policy, and to graduates receiving
higher wage, the renowned high school effect shows more marked. This fact
reveals that the significant wage premium can be acquired by the social capital
owing to the graduation from the renowned high school.