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Brains versus Brawn: Labor Market Returns to Intellectual and Health Human Capital in a Poor Developing Country

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  • Jere R. Behrman
  • John Hoddinott
  • John A. Maluccio
  • Reynaldo Martorell

Abstract

Previous studies report that adult height has significant associations with wages even controlling for schooling. But schooling and height are imperfect measures of adult cognitive skills (“brains”) and strength (“brawn”); further they are not exogenous. Analysis of rich Guatemalan longitudinal data over 35 years finds that proximate determinants—adult reading comprehension skills and fat-free body mass—have significantly positive associations with wages, but only brains, and not brawn, is significant when both human capital measures are treated as endogenous. Even in a poor developing economy in which strength plausibly has rewards, labor market returns are increased by brains, not brawn.

Suggested Citation

  • Jere R. Behrman & John Hoddinott & John A. Maluccio & Reynaldo Martorell, 2009. "Brains versus Brawn: Labor Market Returns to Intellectual and Health Human Capital in a Poor Developing Country," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0907, Middlebury College, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:0907
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    Cited by:

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    2. Janet Currie & Tom Vogl, 2013. "Early-Life Health and Adult Circumstance in Developing Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 1-36, May.
    3. Hoddinott, John & Maluccio, John & Behrman, Jere R. & Martorell, Reynaldo & Melgar, Paul & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Ramirez-Zea, Manuel & Stein, Aryeh D. & Yount, Kathryn M., 2011. "The consequences of early childhood growth failure over the life course:," IFPRI discussion papers 1073, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Elisabetta De Cao, 2010. "The Height Production Function from Birth to Early Adulthood," CEIS Research Paper 165, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 28 May 2010.
    5. Vogl, Tom S., 2014. "Height, skills, and labor market outcomes in Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 84-96.
    6. Mark M. Pitt & Mark R. Rosenzweig & Mohammad Nazmul Hassan, 2012. "Human Capital Investment and the Gender Division of Labor in a Brawn-Based Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3531-3560, December.
    7. repec:pri:rpdevs:currie_vogl_ar is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Calderón, María Cecilia & Hoddinott, John, 2011. "The Inter-Generational Transmission of Cognitive Abilities in Guatemala," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 3105, Inter-American Development Bank.
    9. Mark M. Pitt & Mark Rosenzweig & Nazmul Hassan, 2010. "Human Capital Investment and the Gender Division of Labor," Working Papers 989, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    10. Bilal Muhammad Khan & Muhammad Farhan Majid, 2020. "A note on the gender reservation wage gap in developing countries," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 67(5), pages 462-468, November.
    11. Hoffmann, Vivian, 2009. "What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: Micronutrient Content and Fungal Contamination of Foods in Developing Countries," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 38(2), pages 1-9, October.
    12. Tom Vogl, 2012. "Height, Skills, and Labor Market Outcomes in Mexico," NBER Working Papers 18318, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Gansey, Romeo J., 2020. "Role of malaria control in improving child health in mainland Tanzania: Evidence from a rapid policy scale-up," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).

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