Census data from 1960 and 1970, augmented with schooling data (expenditures per pupil as well as other measures of school quality) from the various Biennial Surveys of Education, are utilized to analyze the impact of school quality on earnings and to investigate secular changes in rates of return to school quality. This research indicates that the effect of expenditures per pupil on earnings is smaller than that estimated by previous researchers. However, there has been a substantial improvement