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Educational Attainment and School-to-work Conversion of Roma in Romania: Adapting to Feasible Means or Ends?

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  • Stacy J. Kosko

Abstract

Education is one of the surest ways for individuals to expand their capability set and can even be inherently valuable. This paper questions the assumption that education is something that all ‘have reason to value’ if it does not bring clear benefits but rather interrupts the pursuit of other valuable opportunities. This is a particularly salient trade-off for many desperately impoverished Roma. This statistical analysis reveals that, ceteris paribus , Roma have 77% lower odds of finishing eighth grade. Regardless of education, they have 57% lower odds of employment and two and a half times the odds of winding up in unskilled labor. Not only are Roma completing fewer years of schooling than non-Roma, they are less able to convert that schooling into gainful employment, forcing us to ask whether Roma might be exhibiting adaptive preferences not just regarding the feasibility of getting an education but regarding the ends of that effort.

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  • Stacy J. Kosko, 2012. "Educational Attainment and School-to-work Conversion of Roma in Romania: Adapting to Feasible Means or Ends?," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 415-450, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:jhudca:v:13:y:2012:i:3:p:415-450
    DOI: 10.1080/19452829.2012.679649
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    Cited by:

    1. Tésits Róbert & Levente Alpek B. & Szabó Rebeka, 2015. "Some Social and Regional Lessons of a Complex Roma Integration Programme (Case Study from a Hungarian Rural Area)," Eastern European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 21(1), pages 111-136, December.
    2. O'Higgins, Niall & Brüggemann, Christian, 2013. "The Consequences of Cumulative Discrimination: How Special Schooling Influences Employment and Wages of Roma in the Czech Republic," IZA Discussion Papers 7668, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Tudorel ANDREI & Andreea MIRICĂ & Daniel TEODORESCU & Elena-Doina DASCĂLU, 2016. "Main Determinants of Labor Force Participation in the case of Metropolitan Roma People," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(3), pages 144-163, September.
    4. O'Higgins, Niall, 2013. "Ethnicity and Gender in the Labour Market in Central and South East Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 7667, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Aisa, Rosa & Larramona, Gemma, 2014. "Labour market outcomes in the Roma population of Spain," MPRA Paper 59866, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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