IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-23-00218.html

Estimating returns to education: back to the short-cut

Author

Listed:
  • Harry A Patrinos

    (World Bank)

  • George Psacharopoulos

    (ex-World Bank, former-London School of Economics)

Abstract

Estimates of the rate of return to investment in education have been the subject of an explosive literature in recent years papers. Most estimates come from the Mincerian earnings function. A less well-known method – the short-cut – offers an efficient means of quickly estimating returns with limited data. It has the added benefit of allowing for easy incorporation of public costs of schooling. Only needing grouped earnings by level of education the short-cut method the method is becoming popular again, especially in cases where lack detailed data, especially in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Harry A Patrinos & George Psacharopoulos, 2023. "Estimating returns to education: back to the short-cut," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(3), pages 1208-1213.
  • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-23-00218
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2023/Volume43/EB-23-V43-I3-P102.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mahdi Barouni & Stijn Broecke, 2014. "The Returns to Education in Africa: Some New Estimates," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(12), pages 1593-1613, December.
    2. 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.
    3. Gong, Jie & Pan, Jessica, 2023. "The returns to an additional year of education for college graduates," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    4. James J. Heckman & Lance J. Lochner & Petra E. Todd, 2008. "Earnings Functions and Rates of Return," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 1-31.
    5. Anchor, John R. & Fiserová, Jana & Mars[iota]ková, Katerina & Urbánek, Václav, 2011. "Student expectations of the financial returns to higher education in the Czech Republic and England: Evidence from business schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 673-681, August.
    6. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1, October.
    7. Jacob Mincer, 1962. "On-the-Job Training: Costs, Returns, and Some Implications," NBER Chapters, in: Investment in Human Beings, pages 50-79, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Heckman, James J. & Lochner, Lance J. & Todd, Petra E., 2006. "Earnings Functions, Rates of Return and Treatment Effects: The Mincer Equation and Beyond," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 7, pages 307-458, Elsevier.
    9. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 1999. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3.
    10. Kopatz, Susanne & Pilz, Matthias, 2015. "The Academic Takes it All? A Comparison of Returns to Investment in Education between Graduates and Apprentices in Canada," International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training (IJRVET), European Research Network in Vocational Education and Training (VETNET), European Educational Research Association, vol. 2(4), pages 308-325.
    11. David J. Deming, 2022. "Four Facts about Human Capital," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 75-102, Summer.
    12. Ardiana Gashi & Nicholas J. Adnett, 2022. "Estimating the returns to education in a chronically depressed labour market: the case of Kosovo," International Journal of Development Issues, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 321-335, April.
    13. Colm Harmon & Hessel Oosterbeek & Ian Walker, 2003. "The Returns to Education: Microeconomics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(2), pages 115-156, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liwiński, Jacek, . "Premia płacowa z kształcenia na studiach podyplomowych," Gospodarka Narodowa-The Polish Journal of Economics, Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie / SGH Warsaw School of Economics, vol. 2017(5).
    2. Bhuller, Manudeep & Mogstad, Magne & Salvanes, Kjell G., 2011. "Life-Cycle Bias and the Returns to Schooling in Current and Lifetime Earnings," IZA Discussion Papers 5788, IZA Network @ LISER.
    3. Emilia Bedyk & Jacek Liwiński, 2016. "The wage premium from parents’ investments in the education of their children in Poland," Working Papers 2016-14, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    4. Jacek Liwiński, 2017. "Premia płacowa z kształcenia na studiach podyplomowych," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 5, pages 105-127.
    5. Jacek Liwiński & Emilia Bedyk, 2016. "Does it pay to invest in the education of children?," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 47.
    6. Hanushek, Eric A. & Schwerdt, Guido & Wiederhold, Simon & Woessmann, Ludger, 2015. "Returns to skills around the world: Evidence from PIAAC," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 103-130.
    7. Deniz Ozabaci & Daniel Henderson, 2015. "Additive kernel estimates of returns to schooling," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 227-251, February.
    8. Helal, Al Mansor & Hiraki, Ryotaro & Patrinos, Harry, 2026. "Returns to Education in the United States: A Comparison of OLS and Double Machine Learning Methods," IZA Discussion Papers 18523, IZA Network @ LISER.
    9. repec:zna:indecs:v:19:y:2021:i:4:p:189-209 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Manudeep Bhuller & Magne Mogstad & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2017. "Life-Cycle Earnings, Education Premiums, and Internal Rates of Return," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(4), pages 993-1030.
    11. Mahfuza Khatun, 2015. "Experience, Education, and Entrepreneurial Success: A View from Bangladesh," Journal of Social and Development Sciences, AMH International, vol. 6(4), pages 71-81.
    12. Iversen Jens & Malchow-Møller Nikolaj & Sørensen Anders, 2011. "The Returns to Education in Entrepreneurship: Heterogeneity and Non-Linearities," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 1(3), pages 1-38, July.
    13. Krzysztof Kalisiak & Małgorzata Szreder & Kaja Białowąs, 2011. "Finansowy i niefinansowy zwrot z edukacji," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 9, pages 77-102.
    14. Sánchez-Romero, Miguel & d׳Albis, Hippolyte & Prskawetz, Alexia, 2016. "Education, lifetime labor supply, and longevity improvements," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 118-141.
    15. Hector Espinoza & Stefan Speckesser, 2019. "A Comparison of Earnings Related to Higher Level Vocational/Technical and Academic Education," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 502, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    16. Lucia Mateos & Ines Murillo & Maria del Mar Salinas, 2014. "Desajuste educativo y competencias cognitivas: efectos sobre los salarios," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 210(3), pages 85-108, September.
    17. Yasser Razak Hussain & Pranab Mukhopadhyay, 2023. "How Much do Education, Experience, and Social Networks Impact Earnings in India? A Panel Data Analysis Disaggregated by Class, Gender, Caste and Religion," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    18. Maria Manuel Campos & Hugo Reis, 2018. "Returns to schooling in the Portuguese economy: a reassessment," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 42(2), pages 215-242.
    19. Pablo Lavado & Nelson Oviedo & Hernán Ruffo, 2016. "Destruction of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills in Adulthood," Working Papers 16-07, Centro de Investigación, Universidad del Pacífico.
    20. David Dorn & Florian Schoner & Moritz Seebacher & Lisa Simon & Ludger Woessmann, 2024. "Multidimensional Skills on LinkedIn Profiles: Measuring Human Capital and the Gender Skill Gap," Papers 2409.18638, arXiv.org, revised May 2025.
    21. Balestra, Simone & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2017. "Heterogeneous returns to education over the wage distribution: Who profits the most?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 89-105.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-23-00218. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.