IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/erg/wpaper/944.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How Does Reducing Years of Compulsory Schooling Affect Education and Labor Market Outcomes in a Developing Country?

Author

Listed:
  • Ahmed Elsayed

    (Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA))

  • Olivier Marie

Abstract

At the end of the 1980’s, Egypt introduced a policy change to its pre-university education system where the years of primary education decreased from six to five, reducing the overall years of compulsory education from nine to eight. Using data from the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS) in 2006 and 2012, we study the effect of this educational reform on several education and labor market outcomes. We find that the policy had positive effects on educational outcomes as it significantly increased the probability of finishing compulsory education and raised the overall years of education. However, the policy significantly postponed the age of entering the labor market, increased the time between completing education and getting the first job, and reduced the probability of the first job being paid. The effects of the policy on both education and labor market outcomes were more pronounced for males than for females.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahmed Elsayed & Olivier Marie, 2015. "How Does Reducing Years of Compulsory Schooling Affect Education and Labor Market Outcomes in a Developing Country?," Working Papers 944, Economic Research Forum, revised Sep 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:erg:wpaper:944
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://erf.org.eg/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/944.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://bit.ly/2mE3prW
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Murat G. Kırdar & Meltem Dayıoğlu & İsmet Koç, 2016. "Does Longer Compulsory Education Equalize Schooling by Gender and Rural/Urban Residence?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 30(3), pages 549-579.
    2. Paul J. Devereux & Robert A. Hart, 2010. "Forced to be Rich? Returns to Compulsory Schooling in Britain," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(549), pages 1345-1364, December.
    3. Colm Harmon; & Ian Walker, 1995. "Estimates of Economic Return to Schooling in the UK," Economics Department Working Paper Series n540195, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    4. Eric A. Hanushek & Victor Lavy & Kohtaro Hitomi, 2008. "Do Students Care about School Quality? Determinants of Dropout Behavior in Developing Countries," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 69-105.
    5. Harmon, Colm & Walker, Ian, 1995. "Estimates of the Economic Return to Schooling for the United Kingdom," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1278-1286, December.
    6. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 1999. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3.
    7. Büttner Bettina & Thomsen Stephan L., 2015. "Are We Spending Too Many Years in School? Causal Evidence of the Impact of Shortening Secondary School Duration," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 65-86, February.
    8. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft, 2013. "The Egypt labor market panel survey: introducing the 2012 round," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-30, December.
    9. Card, David, 1999. "The causal effect of education on earnings," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 30, pages 1801-1863, Elsevier.
    10. Asmaa Elbadawy, 2014. "Education in Egypt: Improvements in Attainment, Problems with Quality and Inequality," Working Papers 854, Economic Research Forum, revised Nov 2014.
    11. Oreopoulos, Philip, 2007. "Do dropouts drop out too soon? Wealth, health and happiness from compulsory schooling," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(11-12), pages 2213-2229, December.
    12. Spohr, Chris A., 2003. "Formal schooling and workforce participation in a rapidly developing economy: evidence from "compulsory" junior high school in Taiwan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 291-327, April.
    13. Harmon, Harmon & Ian Walker, 1995. "Estimates of the economic return to schooling for the UK," IFS Working Papers W95/12, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Emmanuel Adu Boahen & Kwadwo Opoku & Simone Schotte, 2021. "Duration of Pre‐university Education and Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence from a Quasi‐experiment in Ghana," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 208-232, January.

    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. Ahmed Elsayed & Olivier Marie, 2020. "Less School (Costs), More (Female) Education? Lessons from Egypt Reducing Years of Compulsory Schooling," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-037/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    2. Paul J. Devereux & Robert A. Hart, 2010. "Forced to be Rich? Returns to Compulsory Schooling in Britain," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(549), pages 1345-1364, December.
    3. Ragui Assaad & Abdurrahman Aydemir & Meltem Dayioglu & Guray Kirdar, 2016. "Returns to Schooling in Egypt," Working Papers 1000, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2016.
    4. Abdurrahman Aydemir & Murat G. Kirdar, 2017. "Low Wage Returns to Schooling in a Developing Country: Evidence from a Major Policy Reform in Turkey," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(6), pages 1046-1086, December.
    5. Daniel Gray & Alberto Montagnoli & Mirko Moro, 2017. "Does education improve financial outcomes? Quasi-experimental evidence from Britain," Working Papers 2017010, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    6. Daniel A. Kamhöfer & Hendrik Schmitz, 2013. "Analyzing Zero Returns to Education in Germany – Heterogeneous Eff ects and Skill Formation," Ruhr Economic Papers 0446, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    7. Cabus, Sofie J. & De Witte, Kristof, 2011. "Does school time matter?—On the impact of compulsory education age on school dropout," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1384-1398.
    8. Daniel A. Kamhöfer & Hendrik Schmitz, 2013. "Analyzing Zero Returns to Education in Germany: Heterogeneous Effects and Skill Formation," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 598, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    9. Tony Beatton & Michael P. Kidd & Matteo Sandi, 2020. "School indiscipline and crime," CEP Discussion Papers dp1727, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    10. Terry Sicular & Juan Yang, 2015. "The Returns to Schooling in Rural China: Evidence from the Cultural Revolution Education Expansion," University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers 20152, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP).
    11. Huzeyfe Torun, 2018. "Compulsory Schooling and Early Labor Market Outcomes in a Middle-Income Country," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 277-305, September.
    12. Assaad, Ragui & Aydemir, Abdurrahman B. & Dayioglu-Tayfur, Meltem & Kirdar, Murat Güray, 2023. "Wage Returns to Human Capital Resulting from an Extra Year of Primary School: Evidence from Egypt," IZA Discussion Papers 16037, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Kamila Cygan-Rehm, 2018. "Is Additional Schooling Worthless? Revising Zero Returns to Compulsory Schooling in Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 7191, CESifo.
    14. repec:zbw:rwirep:0446 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Julien Grenet, 2013. "Is Extending Compulsory Schooling Alone Enough to Raise Earnings? Evidence from French and British Compulsory Schooling Laws," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 115(1), pages 176-210, January.
    16. Damon Clark & Heather Royer, 2010. "The Effect of Education on Adult Health and Mortality: Evidence from Britain," NBER Working Papers 16013, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Chen, Yi & Jiang, Sheng & Zhou, Li-An, 2020. "Estimating returns to education in urban China: Evidence from a natural experiment in schooling reform," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 218-233.
    18. Buscha, Franz & Dickson, Matt, 2015. "The Wage Returns to Education over the Life-Cycle: Heterogeneity and the Role of Experience," IZA Discussion Papers 9596, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Alan B. Krueger, 2002. "Inequality, Too Much of a Good Thing," Working Papers 845, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    20. Dorothe Bonjour & Lynn F. Cherkas & Jonathan E. Haskel & Denise D. Hawkes & Tim D. Spector, 2003. "Returns to Education: Evidence from U.K. Twins," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1799-1812, December.
    21. Justin L. Tobias, 2003. "Are Returns to Schooling Concentrated Among the Most Able? A Semiparametric Analysis of the Ability–earnings Relationships," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(1), pages 1-29, February.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:erg:wpaper:944. 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: Sherine Ghoneim (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/erfaceg.html .

    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.