IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/7020.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Comparable estimates of returns to schooling around the world

Author

Listed:
  • Montenegro, Claudio E.
  • Patrinos, Harry Anthony

Abstract

Rates of return to investments in schooling have been estimated since the late 1950s. In the 60-plus year history of such estimates, there have been several attempts to synthesize the empirical results to ascertain patterns. This paper presents comparable estimates, as well as a database, that use the same specification, estimation procedure, and similar data for 139 economies and 819 harmonized household surveys. This effort to compile comparable estimates holds constant the definition of the dependent variable, the set of control variables, the sample definition, and the estimation method for all surveys in the sample. The results of this study show that (1) the returns to schooling are more concentrated around their respective means than previously thought; (2) the basic Mincerian model used is more stable than may have been expected; (3) the returns to schooling are higher for women than for men; (4) returns to schooling and labor market experience are strongly and positively associated; (5) there is a decreasing pattern over time; and (6) the returns to tertiary education are highest.

Suggested Citation

  • Montenegro, Claudio E. & Patrinos, Harry Anthony, 2014. "Comparable estimates of returns to schooling around the world," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7020, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7020
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2014/09/04/000158349_20140904084836/Rendered/PDF/WPS7020.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Esther Duflo, 2001. "Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 795-813, September.
    2. Ichino, Andrea & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 1999. "Lower and upper bounds of returns to schooling: An exercise in IV estimation with different instruments," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(4-6), pages 889-901, April.
    3. Alan B. Krueger, 1993. "How Computers Have Changed the Wage Structure: Evidence from Microdata, 1984–1989," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 108(1), pages 33-60.
    4. Garcia-Mainar, Inmaculada & Montuenga-Gomez, Victor M., 2005. "Education returns of wage earners and self-employed workers: Portugal vs. Spain," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 161-170, April.
    5. George Psacharopoulos & Harry Anthony Patrinos, 2004. "Returns to investment in education: a further update," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 111-134.
    6. Christopher Dougherty, 2005. "Why Are the Returns to Schooling Higher for Women than for Men?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(4), pages 969-988.
    7. Harry Anthony Patrinos & Chris Sakellariou, 2006. "Economic volatility and returns to education in Venezuela: 1992-2002," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(17), pages 1991-2005.
    8. Goldin, Claudia & Polachek, Solomon, 1987. "Residual Differences by Sex: Perspectives on the Gender Gap in Earnings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(2), pages 143-151, May.
    9. Elizabeth M. King & Claudio E. Montenegro & Peter F. Orazem, 2012. "Economic Freedom, Human Rights, and the Returns to Human Capital: An Evaluation of the Schultz Hypothesis," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(1), pages 39-72.
    10. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    11. George Psacharopoulos & Richard Layard, 1979. "Human Capital and Earnings: British Evidence and a Critique," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(3), pages 485-503.
    12. World Bank, 2012. "World Development Report 2013
      [Informe anual del Banco Mundial de 2013 : poner fin a la pobreza extrema, promover la prosperidad compartida - informe principal]      ," World Bank Publications, The World Bank, number 11843, August.
    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.
    14. Jacob Mincer, 1958. "Investment in Human Capital and Personal Income Distribution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66, pages 281-281.
    15. Barry R. Chiswick, 1988. "Differences in Education and Earnings Across Racial and Ethnic Groups: Tastes, Discrimination, and Investments in Child Quality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 103(3), pages 571-597.
    16. World Bank, 2012. "World Development Report 2012," World Bank Publications, The World Bank, number 4391, August.
    17. Robert Jensen, 2010. "The (Perceived) Returns to Education and the Demand for Schooling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 125(2), pages 515-548.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Le défi de l’accès et de la qualité de l’éducation dans les pays en développement
      by ? in BSI Economics - Think tank en économie et finance - BSI Economics - Think tank en économie et finance - BS Initiative - association d'économistes et actifs en banque et finance on 2015-02-05 15:54:00
    2. Education and economic development: Five reforms that have worked
      by ? in World Bank Blogs on 2017-03-21 07:00:00

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Cilliers, Jacobus & Kasirye, Ibrahim & Leaver, Clare & Serneels, Pieter & Zeitlin, Andrew, 2016. "Pay for Locally Monitored Performance? A Welfare Analysis for Teacher Attendance in Ugandan Primary Schools," IZA Discussion Papers 10118, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    2. Ferran Mane & Daniel Miravet, 2016. "Using the job requirements approach and matched employer-employee data to investigate the content of individuals’ human capital
      [Messung von individuellem Humankapital auf Basis des „Jobanforderung      ," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 49(2), pages 133-155, October.
    3. Kose,Ayhan & Ohnsorge,Franziska Lieselotte & Ye,Lei Sandy & Islamaj,Ergys, 2017. "Weakness in investment growth : causes, implications and policy responses," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7990, The World Bank.
    4. Armida Alisjahbana & Viktor Pirmana, 2015. "Assessing Indonesia’s Long Run Growth: The Role of Total Factor Productivity and Human Capital," Working Papers in Economics and Development Studies (WoPEDS) 201503, Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University, revised Oct 2015.
    5. repec:eee:ecoedu:v:62:y:2018:i:c:p:183-191 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Barrera-Osorio,Felipe & Blakeslee,David S. & Hoover,Matthew & Linden,Leigh & Raju,Dhushyanth & Ryan,Stephen P., 2017. "Delivering education to the underserved through a public-private partnership program in Pakistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8177, The World Bank.
    8. Florio, Massimo & Forte, Stefano & Sirtori, Emanuela, 2016. "Forecasting the socio-economic impact of the Large Hadron Collider: A cost–benefit analysis to 2025 and beyond," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 38-53.
    9. repec:ipf:psejou:v:42:y:2018:i:2:p:215-242 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. UNESCO Publishing, 2015. "The Economic Cost of Out-of-School Children in Southeast Asia," Working Papers id:7651, eSocialSciences.
    11. Hausmann, Ricardo & Espinoza, Luis & Santos, Miguel Angel, 2016. "Shifting Gears: A Growth Diagnostic of Panama," Working Paper Series rwp16-045, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    12. Javier Torres & Jorge M. Agüero, 2017. "Stylized Facts about the Quantity and Quality of Parental Time Investments on the Skill Formation of Their Children," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8215, Inter-American Development Bank.
    13. repec:eee:pubeco:v:157:y:2018:i:c:p:212-225 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. repec:eee:ehbiol:v:29:y:2018:i:c:p:88-101 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. repec:eee:wdevel:v:109:y:2018:i:c:p:261-278 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. repec:eee:ecoedu:v:58:y:2017:i:c:p:108-122 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Faical Boutayeba, 2017. "Estimating the Returns to Education in Algeria," Asian Journal of Economic Modelling, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(2), pages 147-153, June.
    18. Nelson Oviedo & Gustavo Yamada, 2017. "Educación superior y subempleo profesional, ¿Una creciente burbuja mundial?," Working Papers 1609, Departamento de Economía, Universidad del Pacífico, revised Feb 2017.
    19. Javier Torres & Jorge M. Agüero, 2017. "Stylized Facts about the Quantity and Quality of Parental Time Investments on the Skill Formation of Their Children," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 98156, Inter-American Development Bank.
    20. repec:col:000442:015654 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Primary Education; Education For All; Teaching and Learning; Debt Markets; Education Reform and Management;

    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:wbk:wbrwps:7020. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Roula I. Yazigi). General contact details of provider: http://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    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 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.

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.