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Do returns to education matter to schooling participation?

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  • Geeta Kingdon
  • Nicolas Theopold

Abstract

While it might be expected that schooling will depend positively on the economic returns to education (ER) in the local labor market, in fact there is theoretical ambiguity about the sign of the schooling-ER relationship when households are liquidity-constrained. Whether the relationship is positive or negative depends on which effect dominates - the positive substitution effect of an increase in ER on years of education, or the negative income effect. For India, we find a positive relationship between the rate of return to education for adults in the local labor market and school attainment of girls and non-poor boys. The size of the effect of ER on years of education acquired is large for some groups. However, for poor boys the negative income effect dominates the positive substitution effect. Thus, while policy efforts to increase the rate of return to education should have a positive impact on educational attainment of girls and non-poor boys, they may worsen educational attainment of poor boys. This suggests that policies to raise labor market returns to education (for raising educational attainment) be accompanied by policies to ease liquidity constraints in poor families.

Suggested Citation

  • Geeta Kingdon & Nicolas Theopold, 2006. "Do returns to education matter to schooling participation?," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-052, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:gprg-wps-052
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Anjan Ray Chaudhury & Dipankar Das & Sreemanta Sarkar, 2023. "Complementarity in Demand-side Variables and Educational Participation," Papers 2303.04647, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2023.
    2. Maitra, Pushkar & Pal, Sarmistha & Sharma, Anurag, 2016. "Absence of Altruism? Female Disadvantage in Private School Enrollment in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 105-125.
    3. Zuilkowski, Stephanie Simmons & Jukes, Matthew C.H. & Dubeck, Margaret M., 2016. "“I failed, no matter how hard I tried”: A mixed-methods study of the role of achievement in primary school dropout in rural Kenya," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 100-107.
    4. Tushar Agrawal, 2011. "Returns to education in India: Some recent evidence," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2011-017, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    5. Singh, Ashish, 2010. "Inequality of opportunity in India," MPRA Paper 32971, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Schooling Attainment; Market Returns to Education; Child Labor; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J82 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Labor Force Composition

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