IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/ifwkwp/1073.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Towards a dual education system - a labour market perspective on poverty reduction in Bolivia

Author

Listed:
  • Lay, Jann
  • Wiebelt, Manfred

Abstract

This paper addresses poverty reduction strategies from a labour market perspective. Structural features and constraints are emphasised using informality as a descriptive and segmentation as an analytical concept. Divergent demand-side developments combined with limited labour market mobility result in labour market segmentation. Vicious skill circles are identified that keep the poor trapped in jobs with low incomes. The analysis of the dimensions of informality in the Bolivian labour market shows that its characteristics do not correspond to the conventionally assumed informal-formal dichotomy. Empirical studies on the Bolivian case are reviewed that support the hypothesis of a segmented labour market with vicious poverty circles. The major policy conclusion for poverty reduction drawn from the analysis is that education should be more focused on employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Lay, Jann & Wiebelt, Manfred, 2001. "Towards a dual education system - a labour market perspective on poverty reduction in Bolivia," Kiel Working Papers 1073, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:1073
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/2631/1/kap1073.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fields, Gary S. & Ok, Efe A., 1996. "The Measurement of Income Mobility: An Introduction to the Literature," Working Papers 96-05, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
    2. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1974. "Alternative Theories of Wage Determination and Unemployment in LDC's: The Labor Turnover Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 88(2), pages 194-227.
    3. Cole, William E. & Fayissa, Bichaka, 1991. "The urban subsistence labor force: Toward a policy-oriented and empirically accessible taxonomy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 19(7), pages 779-789, July.
    4. Andersen, Lykke Eg, 2000. "Social Mobility in Latin America," Documentos de trabajo 3/2000, Instituto de Investigaciones Socio-Económicas (IISEC), Universidad Católica Boliviana.
    5. Mazumdar, Dipak, 1983. "Segmented Labor Markets in LDCs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(2), pages 254-259, May.
    6. Behrman, Jere R., 1999. "Labor markets in developing countries," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 43, pages 2859-2939, Elsevier.
    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. William T. Dickens & Kevin Lang, 1992. "Labor Market Segmentation Theory: Reconsidering the Evidence," NBER Working Papers 4087, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Ranis, Gustav & Stewart, Frances, 1999. "V-Goods and the Role of the Urban Informal Sector in Development," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(2), pages 259-288, January.
    10. Peattie, Lisa, 1987. "An idea in good currency and how it grew: The informal sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 15(7), pages 851-860, July.
    11. Duryea, Suzanne & Szekely, Miguel, 2000. "Labor markets in Latin America: a look at the supply-side," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 199-228, November.
    12. Funkhouser, Edward, 1997. "Demand-Side and Supply-Side Explanations for Barriers to Labor Market Mobility in Developing Countries: The Case of Guatemala," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(2), pages 341-366, January.
    13. Tokman, Víctor E., 1978. "Las relaciones entre los sectores formal e informal," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), June.
    14. Moser, Caroline O. N., 1978. "Informal sector or petty commodity production: Dualism or dependence in urban development?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 6(9-10), pages 1041-1064.
    15. repec:bla:rdevec:v:4:y:2000:i:3:p:353-64 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Agenor, Pierre-Richard & Aizenman, Joshua, 1999. "Macroeconomic adjustment with segmented labor markets," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 277-296, April.
    17. Tokman, Victor E., 1978. "An exploration into the nature of informal--formal sector relationships," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 6(9-10), pages 1065-1075.
    18. Weller, Jürgen, 2000. "Tendencias del empleo en los años noventa en América Latina y el Caribe," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), December.
    19. Barba Navaretti, Giorgio & Faini, Riccardo & Zanalda, Giovanni (ed.), 1999. "Labour Markets, Poverty, and Development," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198293538, Decembrie.
    20. Menno Pradhan & Arthur Van Soest, 1997. "Household Labor Supply In Urban Areas Of Bolivia," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(2), pages 300-310, May.
    21. Pradhan, Menno & van Soest, Arthur, 1995. "Formal and informal sector employment in urban areas of Bolivia," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 275-297, September.
    22. Marianthi Leontaridi, 1998. "Segmented Labour Markets: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 103-109, February.
    23. Behrman, Jere R. & Birdsall, Nancy & Székely, Miguel, 1998. "Intergenerational Schooling Mobility and Macro Conditions and Schooling Policies in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 6084, Inter-American Development Bank.
    24. Hollis Chenery† & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), 1988. "Handbook of Development Economics," Handbook of Development Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    25. Piore, Michael J, 1983. "Labor Market Segmentation: To What Paradigm Does It Belong?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(2), pages 249-253, May.
    26. Harris, John R & Todaro, Michael P, 1970. "Migration, Unemployment & Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 126-142, March.
    27. repec:bla:jecsur:v:12:y:1998:i:1:p:63-101 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Sebastian Edwards & Alejandra Cox Edwards, 2000. "Economic Reforms and Labor Markets: Policy Issues and Lessons from Chile," NBER Working Papers 7646, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Maloney, William F, 1999. "Does Informality Imply Segmentation in Urban Labor Markets? Evidence from Sectoral Transitions in Mexico," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 13(2), pages 275-302, May.
    30. Gilbert,Christopher L. & Vines,David (ed.), 2000. "The World Bank," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521790956, Enero-Abr.
    31. Vietorisz, Thomas & Harrison, Bennett, 1973. "Labor Market Segmentation: Positive Feedback and Divergent Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 366-376, May.
    32. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 1999. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3.
    33. Sebastian Edwards & Alejandra Cox Edwards, 2000. "Economic reforms and labour markets: policy issues and lessons from Chile," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 15(30), pages 182-229.
    34. Sarbajit Chaudhuri, 2000. "Rural–Urban Migration, the Informal Sector, Urban Unemployment, and Development Policies: A Theoretical Analysis," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(3), pages 353-364, October.
    35. Berger,Suzanne & Piore,Michael J., 1980. "Dualism and Discontinuity in Industrial Societies," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521231343, Enero-Abr.
    36. Psacharopoulos, George & Arieira, Carlos R. & Mattson, Robert, 1997. "Private education in a poor country: The case of urban Bolivia," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 395-406, October.
    37. Tokman, Víctor E. & Klein, Emilio, 2000. "La estratificación social bajo tensión en la era de la globalización," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), December.
    38. Claudio Loser, 1998. "Economic Reform in Latin America and the Caribbean and Possible Implications for Cuba," Annual Proceedings, The Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, vol. 8.
    39. Andersen, Lykke Eg & Nina, Osvaldo, 2000. "The HIPC Initiative In Bolivia," Documentos de trabajo 4/2000, Instituto de Investigaciones Socio-Económicas (IISEC), Universidad Católica Boliviana.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Lall, Somik V. & Selod, Harris & Shalizi, Zmarak, 2006. "Rural-urban migration in developing countries : a survey of theoretical predictions and empirical findings," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3915, The World Bank.
    2. Pierre‐Richard Agénor, 2004. "Macroeconomic Adjustment and the Poor: Analytical Issues and Cross‐Country Evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 351-408, July.
    3. Carlos Humberto Ortiz & José Ignacio Uribe & Érika Raquel Badillo, 2009. "Segmentación inter e intrarregional en el mercado laboral urbano de Colombia, 2001-2006," Revista ESPE - Ensayos Sobre Política Económica, Banco de la República, vol. 27(58), pages 194-231, August.
    4. Aysit Tansel, 2001. "Wage Earners, Self Employed and Gender in the Informal Sector in Turkey," Working Papers 0102, Economic Research Forum, revised 01 Nov 2001.
    5. Elgin, Ceyhun & Oyvat, Cem, 2013. "Lurking in the cities: Urbanization and the informal economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 36-47.
    6. Michael Grimm & Isabel Günther, 2005. "Inter- and Intra-household Linkages Between the Informal and Formal Sector: a Case Study for Urban Burkina Faso," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2005-14, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Jain, Varinder, 2020. "Vulnerability Exposure in Informal Manufacturing Sector A Reflection on Conceptual and Analytical Issues," MPRA Paper 103158, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Chaudhuri, Sarbajit & Mukhopadhyay, Ujjaini, 2009. "Revisiting the Informal Sector: A General Equilibrium Approach," MPRA Paper 52135, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Mathan Satchi & Jonathan Temple, 2006. "Growth and labour markets in developing countries," CEDI Discussion Paper Series 06-12, Centre for Economic Development and Institutions(CEDI), Brunel University.
    10. Cunningham, Wendy V & Maloney, William F, 2001. "Heterogeneity among Mexico's Microenterprises: An Application of Factor and Cluster Analysis," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(1), pages 131-156, October.
    11. P R Agénor, 2005. "The Analytics of Segmented Labor Markets," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 52, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    12. Gong, Xiaodong & Van Soest, Arthur & Villagomez, Elizabeth, 2004. "Mobility in the Urban Labor Market: A Panel Data Analysis for Mexico," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(1), pages 1-36, October.
    13. Mohamed Amara, 2016. "The linkages between formal and informal employment growth in Tunisia: a spatial simultaneous equations approach," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 56(1), pages 203-227, January.
    14. John P. Haisken-DeNew & Maren M. Michaelsen, 2011. "Migration Magnet: The Role of Work Experience in Rural-Urban Wage Diff erentials in Mexico," Ruhr Economic Papers 0263, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    15. Gong, Xiaodong & van Soest, Arthur, 2002. "Wage differentials and mobility in the urban labour market: a panel data analysis for Mexico," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 513-529, September.
    16. Marcus H. Böhme & Sarah Kups, 2017. "The economic effects of labour immigration in developing countries: A literature review," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 335, OECD Publishing.
    17. Katy Cornwell & Brett Inder, 2004. "Migration and Unemployment in South Africa: When Motivation Surpasses the Theory," Monash Econometrics and Business Statistics Working Papers 2/04, Monash University, Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics.
    18. Fugazza, Marco & Fiess, Norbert M. & Maloney, William, 2002. "Exchange rate appreciations, labor market rigidities, and informality," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2771, The World Bank.
    19. Ana Moreno-Monroy, 2012. "Critical Commentary. Informality in Space: Understanding Agglomeration Economies during Economic Development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(10), pages 2019-2030, August.
    20. Henley, Andrew & Arabsheibani, G. Reza & Carneiro, Francisco G., 2009. "On Defining and Measuring the Informal Sector: Evidence from Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 992-1003, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    poverty reduction; Bolivia; dual education system;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements

    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:zbw:ifwkwp:1073. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwkiede.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.