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General Education vs. Vocational Training: Evidence from an Economy in Transition

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  • Ofer Malamud
  • Cristian Pop-Eleches

Abstract

This paper examines the relative benefits of general education and vocational training in Romania, a country which experienced major technological and institutional change during its transition from Communism to a market economy. To avoid the bias caused by non-random selection, we exploit a 1973 educational reform that shifted a large proportion of students from vocational training to general education while keeping average years of schooling unchanged. Using data from the 1992 and 2002 Romanian Censuses and household surveys from 1995-2000, we analyze the effect of this policy with a regression discontinuity design. We find that men in cohorts affected by the policy were significantly less likely to work in manual or craft-related occupations than their counterparts who were unaffected by the policy. However, in contrast to cross-sectional findings, we find no difference in labor market participation or earnings between cohorts affected and unaffected by the policy. We therefore conclude that differences in labor market returns between graduates of vocational and general schools are largely driven by selection.

Suggested Citation

  • Ofer Malamud & Cristian Pop-Eleches, 2008. "General Education vs. Vocational Training: Evidence from an Economy in Transition," NBER Working Papers 14155, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14155
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrén, Daniela, 2010. ""In every rank, or great or small, ’Tis industry supports us all": Romanians and ethnic Hungarians, and their wages, in transition," Working Papers 2010:1, Örebro University, School of Business.
    2. Harkat, Tahar & Driouchi, Ahmed & Achehboune, Amale, 2016. "Time Series Analysis & Choices for General and Vocational Education in Arab Economies," MPRA Paper 74770, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Malamud, Ofer & Pop-Eleches, Cristian, 2011. "School tracking and access to higher education among disadvantaged groups," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(11), pages 1538-1549.
    4. Prashant Loyalka & Xiaoting Huang & Linxiu Zhang & Jianguo Wei & Hongmei Yi & Yingquan Song & Yaojiang Shi & James Chu, 2016. "The Impact of Vocational Schooling on Human Capital Development in Developing Countries: Evidence from China," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 30(1), pages 143-170.
    5. Julia Bock-Schappelwein & Jürgen Janger & Andreas Reinstaller, 2012. "Bildung 2025 – Die Rolle von Bildung in der österreichischen Wirtschaft," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 45200, December.
    6. Danilovich, Hanna & Croucher, Richard, 2015. "Investment in personnel and FDI in Belarusian companies," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 966-971.
    7. David Newhouse & Daniel Suryadarma, 2011. "The Value of Vocational Education: High School Type and Labor Market Outcomes in Indonesia," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 25(2), pages 296-322, May.
    8. Driouchi, Ahmed & Harkat, Tahar, 2016. "Macroeconomic and School Variables to Reveal Country Choices of General and Vocational Education: A Cross-Country Analysis with focus on Arab Economies," MPRA Paper 73455, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Karina Mahirda & Heni Wahyuni, 2016. "Returning To General And Vocational High-Schools In Indonesia," Review of Economic and Business Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 18, pages 9-28, December.
    10. Eggenberger, Christian & Rinawi, Miriam & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2018. "Occupational specificity: A new measurement based on training curricula and its effect on labor market outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 97-107.
    11. World Bank, 2010. "Education, Training and Labor Market Outcomes for Youth in Indonesia," World Bank Publications - Reports 2914, The World Bank Group.
    12. Parey, Matthias, 2016. "Vocational Schooling versus Apprenticeship Training. Evidence from Vacancy Data," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145655, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Harry Holzer, 2012. "Good workers for good jobs: improving education and workforce systems in the US," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-19, December.
    14. Andrén, Daniela, 2012. "Romanians, Hungarians and their wages, in transition, in Romania," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 2673-2685.

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    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • P20 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - General

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