Returns to education among entrepreneurs in Bangladesh

This article estimates returns to education among entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, using unique survey data from 2012. Our main instrument for education is the education of the father of the entrepreneur, and we control for sibling education in order to take out the potential effect of father education on productivity and profitability. The results suggest a return to education in the order of 11 per cent per year of education. Using the education of the mother as an alternative instrument, we find evidence of heterogeneous returns to education among entrepreneurs. Compared to our main instrument, the education of mothers appears to affect education choices among individuals with relatively higher participation probabilities in education, where returns to education are lower.     

Returns to education in China: Evidence from the great higher education expansion

China experienced a near 5-fold increase in annual Higher Education (HE) enrolment in the decade starting in 1999. Using the China Household Finance Survey, we show that the Great HE Expansion has exacerbated a large pre-existing urban-rural gap in educational attainment underpinned by the hukou (household registration) system. We instrument the years of schooling with the interaction between urban hukou status during childhood and the timing of the expansion – in essence a difference-in-differences estimator using rural students to control for common time trends. We find that the Great HE raised earnings by 17% for men and 12% for women respectively, allowing for county fixed-effects. These Two Stage Least Squares (2SLS) estimates, which are robust to additional controls for hukou status at birth fully interacted with birth hukou province, can be interpreted as the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) of education on earnings for urban students who enrolled in HE only because of the Great HE Expansion. For the selected subsample of respondents with parental education information, we find that the 2SLS returns for students from more disadvantaged backgrounds are at least as high as their more advantaged counterparts, for both genders.     

Returns to social network capital among traders

Using data on agricultural traders in Madagascar, this papershows that social network capital has a large effect on firmproductivity. Better connected traders have significantly largersales and value added than less connected traders after controllingfor physical and human inputs as well as for entrepreneur characteristics.The analysis indicates that three dimensions of social networkcapital should be distinguished: relationships with other traders,which among other things help firms economize on transactionscosts; relationships with potential lenders; and family relationships.We find no evidence that social capital favors collusion.     

Returns to private and public education in Bangladesh and Pakistan: A comparative analysis

This paper documents wage differentials between private and public school graduates in Bangladesh and Pakistan. While evidence in support of a wage advantage of private school graduates in Bangladesh is lacking, Pakistani private school graduates are found to earn more than their public school counterparts. This finding has important implications for the current debate over the effectiveness of private schools in South Asia. To the extent the wage premium arises owing to education in private schools, our result suggests relative superiority of private schools in Pakistan and are consistent with extant studies that have assessed private school quality using test scores of students. The difference in the performance of private schools in the two countries, however, remains a puzzle. This difference, we conjecture, may be partly explained by the between-country differences in public policy towards private schools and, therefore, the regulatory regime facing these schools.     

莫尔斯家族重返怒江

2001年6月我广泛游历了云南省怒江傈僳族自治州。在靠近丙中洛的地方,我看见了那两个气势不凡的大拐弯;在怒江边的小路上,我聆听着怒江不息的咆哮;我看见儿童们用古老的溜索方式过河;络绎不绝的马帮正往返于通向西藏的路上,     

Superior female education: Explaining the gender earnings gap trend in Thailand

It is well-known that along with Thailand's remarkable increase in real income per capita during 1985–2005, an increase in overall income inequality was observed. What is not documented in the literature is that, during the same time period, the gender earnings inequality declined considerably. This paper seeks to identify the main factors that contributed to the decline in gender earnings gap in Thailand's wage and salary sector during 1985–2005. A parametric methodology, the Neumark (1988) version of the Blinder–Oaxaca (1973) method, is implemented in order to decompose gender earnings gap. I also make a methodological contribution by proposing a way to modify the DiNardo–Fortin–Lemieux (1996) nonparametric decomposition method so that its results are comparable to those from the Neumark version of the Blinder–Oaxaca method. The key findings of this paper are as follows. First, I find that increases in female education and changes in unobserved factors, which were concurrent with modernization, were the main sources of the decline in gender earnings gap. Second, over time, improvements in the education of females in this sector surpassed that of males. However, the superior education of females did not result in females earning higher than males due to the existing counteracting effect of the unexplained factors. Finally, the nonparametric investigation corroborated the results from the parametric methodology.     

Wage Returns to Schooling in Nigeria

Abstract: In the last two decades, primary and secondary school enrollment rates have declined in Nigeria while enrollment rates in post‐secondary school have increased. This paper estimates from the General Household Survey for Nigeria the private returns to schooling associated with levels of educational attainment for wage and self‐employed workers. The estimates for both men and women are small at primary and secondary levels, 2–4 percent, but are substantial at post‐secondary education level, 10–15 percent. These schooling return estimates may account for the recent trends in enrollments. Thus, increasing public investment to encourage increased attendance in basic education is not justifiable on grounds of private efficiency, unless investments to increase school quality have higher private returns. With high private returns to post‐secondary schooling, students at this level should pay tuition, to recoup more of the public costs of schooling, which may be redistributed to poor families through scholarships.     

Returns to school resources in the Jim Crow South

We estimate returns to school resources in the Jim Crow era, as measured by young males' 1940 wage earnings, occupational status, and cognitive aptitude scores. Results point to a 16 cent annual return on each $1 invested in public schools. To the question of whether some school inputs mattered more than others, we find comparable 25–32 cent returns per dollar invested in extended school years, teacher salaries, and smaller classes. School spending and inputs had much more bearing on labor market outcomes than aptitude scores. We document diminishing returns to school expenditures, which, in combination with segregated schools, resulted in higher returns to expenditures in black schools relative to white.     

西藏梦回

有人说:天堂隔壁是西藏。尽管在现代交通和通讯如此发达的今天,似乎没有人类不能达到的地方,但关于西藏,依然有太多的神秘,吸引着南来北往的行者去探秘去圆梦去朝圣。《中国国家地理》曾经这样描述西藏:"西藏是一面魔镜,每个人都     

Returns to scale and factor substitutability in the Spanish industry

Zusammenfassung Skalenertr?ge und M?glichkeiten der Faktorsubstitution in der spanischen Industrie.— Mit diesem Beitrag wird versucht, eine wichtige Infonnationslücke hinsichtlich der Produktionsbedingungen in der verarbeitenden Industrie Spaniens schlie\en zu helfen. Zu diesem Zweck wurden Cobb-Douglas- und CES-Funktionen für 20 Branchen mit Hilfe von Querschnittsregressionen für das Jahr 1968 gesch?tzt. Angesichts der v?llig unzureichenden Industriestatistiken in Spanien mu\ten die ben?tigten Daten von Unternehmern direkt erfragt werden. Die erzielten Ergebnisse zeigen (1) da\ sich die relative Bedeutung von zunehmenden, konstanten und abnehmenden Skalenertr?gen ziemlich die Waage h?lt und (2) da\ die Substitutionselastizit?ten zwischen Arbeit und Kapital für die Mehrheit der Branchen recht hoch zu sein scheinen. Da nur sehr einfache Modelle angewandt wurden und Verzerrungen in den Sch?tzergebnissen m?glich sind, k?nnen die numerischen Werte, vorl?ufig, nichts mehr als Orientierungshilfen für die Anwendung einer exportorientierten Industrialisierungsstrategie sein.

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Résumé Rendements d’échelle et possibilités de substitution des facteurs de production dans l’industrie espagnole.— Cet article veut aider à remplir une lacune importante dans l’information disponible sur les conditions de production dans l’industrie espagnole de transformation. A cet effet, on a estimé — à l’aide de régressions transversales — les fonctions Cobb-Douglas et CES pour vingt branches industrielles en 1968. Vu l’insuffisance absolue des statistiques industrielles pour l’Espagne, il fallait demander les données nécessaires directement aux entrepreneurs. Les résultats obtenus démontrent (1) que l’importance relative des rendements d’échelle augmentants, constants et diminuants est assez équilibrée et (2) que les élases ticitde substitution entre la main-d’∄uvre et le capital paraissent être relativement hautes pour la majorité des branches. Puisqu’on n’a employé que des modèles très simples, et puisqu’il peut y avoir des inexactitudes dans les résultats d’estimation, les valeurs numériques ne peuvent, en attendant, représenter que des points d’orientation pour l’élaboration d’une stratégie d’industrialisation, qui vise l’exportation.

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Resumen Rendimientos de escala y grado de substituibilidad de los factores de productión en la industria espa?ola.— El objetivo de este estudio es contribuir al mejoramiento de la información sobre las relaciones de producción existentes en la industria manufacturera espa?ola. Para ello se estimaron, mediante regressiones de corte transversal para el a?o 1968, funciones de productión del tipo CobbDouglas y CES para 20 sectores. En vista del estado deficiente de las estadísticas industriales en Espa?a, tuvieron que utilizarse datos facilitados directamente por empresas. Los resultados obtenidos parecen indicar que (1) la importancia relativa de rendimientos de escala crecientes, constantes y decrecientes es bastante equilibrada y que (2) las elasticidades de sustitución entre los factores trabajo y capital son relativamente altas para la mayoría de los sectores. Debido a que se utilizaron modelos muy simples y a que no cabe descartar la posibilidad de sesgos en las estimaciones, los valores numéricos no pueden, de momento, ser más que puntos de orientatión para la elaboratión de una estrategia de industrializatión hacia afuera.

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Riassunto Rendimenti di scala e possibilità della sostituzione di fattori nell’industria spagnola.— In questo articolo si cerca di contribuire a colmare una lacuna di informazione riguardante le condizioni di produzione nell’industria manifatturiera spagnola. Per questo scopo funzioni Cobb-Douglas e CES furono valutate per 20 settori con l’aiuto di regressioni trasversali per l’anno 1968. In vista delle statistiche industriali del tutto insufficienti in Spagna, i dati occorrenti furono direttamente richiesti agli impresari. I risultati ottenuti mostrano (1) che l’importanza relativa di rendimenti di scala crescente, costante e decrescente è abbastanza equilibrata e (2) che le elasticità di sostituzione tra lavoro e capitale sembrano essere relativamente alte per la maggioranza dei settori. Dal momento che furono utilizzati soltanto modelli assai semplici e deformazioni nei risultati valutati sono possibili, i valori numerici non possono essere più punti di orientamento per l’impiego di una strategia d’industrializzazione orientata verso l’esportazione.

     

Stock Returns, Volatility, and Cointegration among Chinese Stock Markets

I. IntroductionA plethora of research has focused on therelationship between returns and volatility, andcointegration among major, well-established financial markets. It has been found that aninverse relationship exists between an individualfirm’s stock return volatility and itsstockprice. There are two popular explanations: the first one is related to the leverage effect. Itasserts that a decrease in afirm’s stock price increases the firm’s debt ratio (or decreasesthefirm’s equity ratio)…     

Monetary and Nonmonetary Returns to Education in Indonesia

Some important aspects of returns to education in Indonesia have been neglected. This paper draws on the Indonesia Family Life Survey, a longitudinal survey, to shed some light on these aspects. This paper finds in a Mincerian specification that a more recent rate of return is in line with the rates found in previous research. A quantile regression is applied to show that the rate varies little in the conditional distribution of earnings, which stands in stark contrast to findings from some developed countries. In addition, the rate of return in self‐employment is estimated to be lower than that in paid employment for person‐ and sector‐specific reasons. In addition to monetary returns to education, happiness returns to education are considered. This paper advances evidence that education has important and robust implications for happiness above and beyond absolute and relative levels of income.     

教育回报异质性问题研究

传统明瑟(Mincer)方程法估计出来的教育回报率是一个常数,是一种平均意义上的教育回报率.教育回报异质性问题指的是,教育回报率会随着研究群体的变化而变化,不再是一个常数.因此,在研究教育回报异质性问题时,传统明瑟方程法便不再适用.本文使用一种新的方法(部分线性模型)研究教育回报异质性问题,得到以下结论:女性的教育回报率高于男性;年龄越大,教育回报率越低;女性中专的教育回报率高于高中的教育回报率;年轻女性初中的教育回报率较高,年轻男性初中的教育回报率较低.