General or Vocational? Evidence on School Choice, Returns, and “Sheep Skin” Effects from Egypt 1998

The debate on the relative benefits of upper secondary vocational education and of general education is still going. While this area of research has been very active in the United States and industrialized countries in recent years, empirical work in the Middle East countries still lacking. This study adds new evidence to that debate. The paper identifies factors that influence an individual’s choice between vocational and general education in Egypt as well as the relative returns between them and beyond secondary levels. Using an ordered logit model, the study finds that an individual from a well educated family is more likely to undertake general education. The presence of young siblings in the household motivates the parents to send their daughters to vocational schooling, but not their sons. After correcting for self-selection, the study also finds vocational education to offer higher returns (earnings) than general secondary education does for men, but not for women. Sheepskin effect was also evident for men but not for women.