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The Educated Russian's Curse: Returns to Education in the Russian Federation during the 1990s

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  • Sofia Cheidvasser
  • Hugo Benítez‐Silva

Abstract

. This paper uses a representative sample of the Russian Federation, the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, to estimate the returns to education in this ex‐communist country. We tackle this classic issue in labor economics with the realistic expectation of obtaining results for Russia comparable in quality and reliability to those available in developed countries and other economies in transition. Using standard regression techniques we find that the returns to education in Russia are quite low compared with those reported in the literature on countries throughout the world, in almost no specification reaching higher than 5 per cent. Moreover, there is virtually no improvement in returns to education in the 1992–99 period, a result somewhat at odds with other studies using Russian data from similar time periods. When we instrument our main regressor using policy experiments from the 1960s, we find comparable results. We also perform a selectivity correction and discover even lower returns to education for men, although they become slightly higher for women. Additionally, we find extremely low returns to tenure, which can even become negative in certain specifications.

Suggested Citation

  • Sofia Cheidvasser & Hugo Benítez‐Silva, 2007. "The Educated Russian's Curse: Returns to Education in the Russian Federation during the 1990s," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 21(1), pages 1-41, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:labour:v:21:y:2007:i:1:p:1-41
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9914.2007.00365.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andrew Newell & Barry Reilly, 1999. "Rates of Return to Educational Qualifications in the Transitional Economies," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 67-84.
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    8. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Introduction to "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings"," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 1-4, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    12. Foley, M.C., 1997. "Labor Market Dynamics in Russia," Papers 780, Yale - Economic Growth Center.
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    Cited by:

    1. Tilman Brück & Alexander M. Danzer & Alexander Muravyev & Natalia Weißhaar, 2007. "Determinants of Poverty during Transition: Household Survey Evidence from Ukraine," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 748, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Kyui, Natalia, 2016. "Expansion of higher education, employment and wages: Evidence from the Russian Transition," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 68-87.
    3. Oleg Badunenko & Kiril Tochkov, 2010. "Soaring dragons, roaring tigers, growling bears," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 18(3), pages 539-570, July.
    4. Arabsheibani, Reza & Staneva, Anita, 2012. "Returns to Education in Russia: Where There Is Risky Sexual Behaviour There Is Also an Instrument," IZA Discussion Papers 6726, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Sergey Roshchin & Victor Rudakov, 2015. "Do Starting Salaries for Graduates Measure the Quality of Education? A Review of Studies by Russian and Foreign Authors," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 1, pages 137-181.
    6. DANACICA Daniela-Emanuela, 2014. "The Effect Of Education On Incidence Of Unemployment, Duration And Exit States In Romania And Hungary," Revista Economica, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 66(1), pages 45-57.
    7. Sergey Alexeev, 2023. "Technical change and wage premiums amongst skilled labour: Evidence from the economic transition," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 189-216, January.
    8. Ekaterina Melianova & Suhas Parandekar & Artem Volgin, 2020. "Returns to Education in the Russian Federation," World Bank Publications - Reports 34455, The World Bank Group.
    9. repec:pru:wpaper:40 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Tamar Khitarishvili, 2013. "Evaluating the Gender Wage Gap in Georgia, 2004 - 2011," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_768, Levy Economics Institute.
    11. Pierre–André Chiappori & Natalia Radchenko & Bernard Salanié, 2018. "Divorce and the duality of marital payoff," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 833-858, September.

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