Usingmarket conditions at graduation as instruments for initial career choice, I show that taking a position onWall Street leads a person to bemuchmore likely to work onWall Street later in his or her career. I then estimate how shocks that lead people to either start their careers on Wall Street or elsewhere affect the discounted long-term financial value of their compensation. I estimate that a person who graduates in a bullmarket and goes to work in investment banking upon graduation earns an additional $ million to $5 million relative to what that same person would have earned if he or she had graduated during a bear market and.
