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Estimating Regional Returns to Education in India

Author

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  • Prabir Bhattacharya

    (Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration (RIEB), Kobe University, Japan, and School of Social Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK)

  • Takahiro Sato

    (Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration (RIEB), Kobe University, Japan)

Abstract

This study analyzes the effects of socio-economic factors on the real wage rates for male workers in India over the period 1983 to 2010. In particular, we examine the role of human capital by estimating the Mincerian wage equation. We construct a regional level pseudo panel data set for our analysis. Our findings show that while the return to primary education is remarkably high, the returns to other, higher, levels of education are equally remarkably low for all of India taken together, becoming progressively so as the level of education increases. These findings are in contradistinction to those of the other studies on returns to education in India, all of which, however, have relied on cross-sectional data for their analyses. We also find relatively little effects of caste, tribe and religion on real wage rates in India, suggesting that that these factors may not be as important as is sometimes believed.

Suggested Citation

  • Prabir Bhattacharya & Takahiro Sato, 2017. "Estimating Regional Returns to Education in India," Discussion Paper Series DP2017-09, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    • Handle: RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2017-09
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    File URL: https://www.rieb.kobe-u.ac.jp/academic/ra/dp/English/DP2017-09.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Saule Kemelbayeva, 2020. "Returns to schooling in Kazakhstan: an update using a pseudo-panel approach," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 437-487, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Returns to education; India; Regions; Pseudo-panel data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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