IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/not/notcre/13-01.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Determinants of Urban Worker Earnings in Ghana and Tanzania: The Role of Education

Author

Listed:
  • Priscilla Twumasi Baffour

Abstract

The paper examines the role of education in earnings determination by using all three rounds of the Urban Worker Surveys of Tanzania and Ghana for 2004-2006. We investigate and compare heterogeneity in earnings determinants among self-employed (informal), private and public sector workers. We examine the role education, individual and household characteristics play in facilitating entry into employment sectors in addition to analysing the pattern of returns to education along the earnings distribution. After addressing endogeneity and selectivity biases associated with estimating earnings equations, we find that education plays an important role in promoting access to formal sector jobs, particularly employment in the public sector, but has no direct impact on earnings within the sector in both countries. Results from quantile regressions indicate primary and secondary levels of education are inequality-reducing among workers in Tanzania but this is not the case in Ghana. Tertiary education on the other hand is found to widen earnings inequality in both Tanzania and Ghana.

Suggested Citation

  • Priscilla Twumasi Baffour, 2013. "Determinants of Urban Worker Earnings in Ghana and Tanzania: The Role of Education," Discussion Papers 13/01, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    • Handle: RePEc:not:notcre:13/01
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/credit/documents/papers/13-01.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Rosholm & Helena Skyt Nielsen, 2001. "The public-private sector wage gap in Zambia in the 1990s: A quantile regression approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 169-182.
    2. Dubin, Jeffrey A & McFadden, Daniel L, 1984. "An Econometric Analysis of Residential Electric Appliance Holdings and Consumption," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 345-362, March.
    3. François Bourguignon & Martin Fournier & Marc Gurgand, 2007. "Selection Bias Corrections Based On The Multinomial Logit Model: Monte Carlo Comparisons," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 174-205, February.
    4. Orley Ashenfelter & Colm Harmon & Hessel Oosterbeek, 1999. "A Review of Estimates of the Schooling/Earnings Relationship, with Tests for Publication Bias," Working Papers 804, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    5. Callan, Tim & Harmon, Colm, 1999. "The economic return to schooling in Ireland," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 543-550, November.
    6. Mwabu, Germano & Schultz, T Paul, 1996. "Education Returns across Quantiles of the Wage Function: Alternative Explanations for Returns to Education by Race in South Africa," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 335-339, May.
    7. Fields, Gary S., 1975. "Rural-urban migration, urban unemployment and underemployment, and job-search activity in LDCs," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 165-187, June.
    8. Bernd Fitzenberger & Claudia Kurz, 2003. "New insights on earnings trends across skill groups and industries in West Germany," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 479-514, July.
    9. Joshua D. Angrist & Alan B. Keueger, 1991. "Does Compulsory School Attendance Affect Schooling and Earnings?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 979-1014.
    10. Ashenfelter, Orley & Harmon, Colm & Oosterbeek, Hessel, 1999. "A review of estimates of the schooling/earnings relationship, with tests for publication bias," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 453-470, November.
    11. Card, David, 2001. "Estimating the Return to Schooling: Progress on Some Persistent Econometric Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(5), pages 1127-1160, September.
    12. François Bourguignon & Martin Fournier & Marc Gurgand, 2002. "Selection Bias Correction Based on the Multinomial Logit Model," Working Papers 2002-04, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    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. Vincent Leyaro & Priscilla Twumasi Baffour & Oliver Morrissey & Trudy Owens, 2014. "Determinants of Urban Labour Earnings in Tanzania, 2000/01-06," Discussion Papers 14/03, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    2. Mlacha, Cornel J. & Ndanshau, Michael O.A, 2018. "Education and Labour Earnings Inequality in Tanzania: Evidence from Quantile Regression Analysis," MPRA Paper 89173, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Berger, Johannes & Strohner, Ludwig, 2020. "Documentation of the PUblic Policy Model for Austria and other European countries (PUMA)," Research Papers 11, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Angel de la Fuente & Antonio Ciccone, 2003. "Human capital in a global and knowledge-based economy," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 562.03, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    3. Sajjad Haider Bhatti & Muhammad Aslam & Jean Bourdon, 2018. "Market Returns to Education in Pakistan, Corrected for Endogeneity Bias," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 23(1), pages 79-96, Jan-June.
    4. Jean-Louis ARCAND & Béatrice D'HOMBRES & Paul GYSELINCK, 2004. "Instrument Choice and the Returns to Education: New Evidence from Vietnam," Working Papers 200422, CERDI.
    5. Cellini, Stephanie Riegg & Chaudhary, Latika, 2014. "The labor market returns to a for-profit college education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 125-140.
    6. Denis Maguain, 2007. "Les rendements de l'éducation en comparaison internationale," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 180(4), pages 87-106.
    7. Hoogerheide, Lennart & Block, Joern H. & Thurik, Roy, 2012. "Family background variables as instruments for education in income regressions: A Bayesian analysis," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 515-523.
    8. Vincent Leyaro & Priscilla Twumasi Baffour & Oliver Morrissey & Trudy Owens, 2014. "Determinants of Urban Labour Earnings in Tanzania, 2000/01-06," Discussion Papers 14/03, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    9. Joern H. Block & Lennart Hoogerheide & Roy Thurik, 2010. "Are Education and Entrepreneurial Income Endogenous and do Family Background Variables make Sense as Instruments? A Bayesian Analysis," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 10-024/4, Tinbergen Institute.
    10. Block Joern H. & Hoogerheide Lennart & Thurik Roy, 2012. "Are Education and Entrepreneurial Income Endogenous? A Bayesian Analysis," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 2(3), pages 1-29, July.
    11. Del Bono, Emilia & Galindo-Rueda, Fernando, 2006. "The long term impacts of compulsory schooling: evidence from a natural experiment in school leaving dates," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-44, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    12. Giorgio Brunello & Margherita Fort & Guglielmo Weber, 2009. "Changes in Compulsory Schooling, Education and the Distribution of Wages in Europe," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(536), pages 516-539, March.
    13. 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.
    14. Serneels, Pieter & Beegle, Kathleen & Dillon, Andrew, 2017. "Do returns to education depend on how and whom you ask?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 5-19.
    15. Simon Parker & Mirjam van Praag, 2004. "Schooling, Capital Constraints and Entrepreneurial Performance," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 04-106/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 07 Mar 2005.
    16. Sandeep Mohapatra & Bruno Wichmann & Philippe Marcoul, 2018. "Removing The “Veil Of Ignorance”: Nonlinearities In Education Effects On Gender Wage Inequalities," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(4), pages 644-666, October.
    17. Thomas Lemieux, 2014. "Occupations, fields of study and returns to education," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(4), pages 1047-1077, November.
    18. Denny, Kevin & Harmon, Colm, 2000. "Education Policy Reform and the Return to Schooling from Instrumental Variables," CEPR Discussion Papers 2518, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Colm Harmon & Hessel Oosterbeek, 2000. "The Returns to Education: A Review of Evidence, Issues and Deficiencies in the Literature," CEE Discussion Papers 0005, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE.
    20. Nathan E. Wilso, 2016. "Market Structure as a Determinant of Patient Care Quality," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 2(2), pages 241-271, Spring.

    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:not:notcre:13/01. 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: Hilary Hughes (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cenotuk.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.