The widely respected Journal of Legal Studies has now published “The Economic Value of a Law Degree,” the most important and widely discussed study of the value of earning a JD authored by legal scholar Michael Simkovic and economist Frank McIntyre.

The study concludes based on exhaustive empirical analysis that includes the impact of the recent recession that “a law degree is associated with median increases of 73 percent in earnings and 60 percent in hourly wages. The mean annual earnings premium is approximately $57,200 in 2013 dollars. Values in recent years are within historical norms. The mean pretax lifetime value of a law degree is approximately $1 million.”

A working paper version of the article released last year triggered an intense debate because it provided strong empirical evidence that, despite the difficulties of recent law school graduates, over a career a JD had significant value relative to entering the workforce with only a BA. The concrete data assembled by the authors flew in the face of the anecdotal approach taken by most critics of the JD who dominated discussion of the future of law school in the wake of the economic crisis. Examples of the debate can be found here, here and here.

Here is the full abstract from the article:

“We investigate the economic value of a law degree and find that for most law school graduates, the present value of a law degree typically exceeds its cost by hundreds of thousands of dollars. The median and 25th-percentile earnings premiums justify enrollment. We track 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 incorporate unemployment and disability risk and measure earnings premiums separately for men and for women. After controlling for observable ability sorting, we find that a law degree is associated with median increases of 73 percent in earnings and 60 percent in hourly wages. The mean annual earnings premium is approximately $57,200 in 2013 dollars. Values in recent years are within historical norms. The mean pretax lifetime value of a law degree is approximately $1 million.”

Some critics claimed, inaccurately, that the paper was not subject to peer review. It was, however, peer reviewed prior to its circulation in working paper form (as I explained here) and now has been published in a leading refereed journal published by the University of Chicago Press.

As the economic recovery from the collapse of the 2008-10 period continues its momentum there is some evidence that applications to top tier JD programs remain strong with applicants with very LSATs now having increased. Nonetheless, second and third tier schools remain challenged to survive the prolonged economic cycle. This study, however, is likely to reinforce the argument that the JD and law schools remain a viable and important economic institution.