IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/edecon/v20y2012i2p139-173.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Returns to schooling, ability and cognitive skills in Pakistan

Author

Listed:
  • Monazza Aslam
  • Faisal Bari
  • Geeta Kingdon

Abstract

This study investigates the economic outcomes of education for wage earners in Pakistan. This is done by analysing the relationship between schooling, cognitive skills and ability, on the one hand, and economic activity, occupation, sectoral choice and earnings, on the other. In Pakistan, an important question remains largely unaddressed: what does the coefficient on ‘schooling’ in conventional earning function estimates measure? Whereas human capital theory holds that the economic return to an extra year of schooling measures productivity gains acquired through additional schooling, the credentialist view argues that it represents a return to acquired qualifications and credentials, and a third view, the signalling hypothesis, suggests that it captures a return to native ability. This paper seeks to adjudicate between these theories using data from a unique purpose-designed survey of more than 1000 households in Pakistan, collected in 2007. The paper also examines the shape of the education--earnings relationship in Pakistan as a way of testing the poverty-reducing potential of education in Pakistan.

Suggested Citation

  • Monazza Aslam & Faisal Bari & Geeta Kingdon, 2012. "Returns to schooling, ability and cognitive skills in Pakistan," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 139-173, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:20:y:2012:i:2:p:139-173
    DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2010.488470
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09645292.2010.488470
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09645292.2010.488470?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bishop, J., 1991. "Impact of Academic Competencies on Wages, Unemployment & Job Performance," Papers 91-34, Cornell - Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies.
    2. Eric A. Hanushek & Lei Zhang, 2006. "Quality-Consistent Estimates of International Returns to Skill," NBER Working Papers 12664, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Monazza Aslam & Shenila Rawal, 2013. "Preparing Women of Substance? Education, Training, and Labor Market Outcomes for Women in Pakistan," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 18(Special E), pages 93-128, September.
    2. Jones, Melanie K. & Kaya, Ezgi & Nan, Jiarui, 2024. "Overeducation, Earnings and Job Satisfaction among Graduates in China," IZA Discussion Papers 17161, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Livini Donath & Oliver Morrissey & Trudy Owens, 2021. "Does the pay period matter in estimating returns to schooling? Evidence from East Africa," Discussion Papers 2021-01, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    4. Monazza Aslam & Kim Lehrer, 2012. "Learning by Doing: Skills and Jobs in Urban Ghana," CSAE Working Paper Series 2012-15, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    5. 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.
    6. Undurraga, Eduardo A. & Behrman, Jere R. & Grigorenko, Elena L. & Schultz, Alan & Yiu, Julie & TAPS Bolivia Study Team, & Godoy, Ricardo A., 2013. "Math skills and market and non-market outcomes: Evidence from an Amazonian society of forager-farmers," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 138-147.
    7. Aamir Khan & Himayatullah Khan, 2020. "Return to Schooling for Public and Private Sector Higher Education Institutions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Pakistan," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(4), pages 125-131.
    8. 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.
    9. Ozawa, Sachiko & Laing, Sarah K. & Higgins, Colleen R. & Yemeke, Tatenda T. & Park, Christine C. & Carlson, Rebecca & Ko, Young Eun & Guterman, L. Beryl & Omer, Saad B., 2022. "Educational and economic returns to cognitive ability in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).

    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. Eric A. Hanushek & Guido Schwerdt & Ludger Woessmann & Lei Zhang, 2017. "General Education, Vocational Education, and Labor-Market Outcomes over the Lifecycle," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 52(1), pages 48-87.
    2. Eric A. Hanushek & Victor Lavy & Kohtaro Hitomi, 2008. "Do Students Care about School Quality? Determinants of Dropout Behavior in Developing Countries," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 69-105.
    3. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Nathaniel Hilger & Emmanuel Saez & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Danny Yagan, 2011. "How Does Your Kindergarten Classroom Affect Your Earnings? Evidence from Project Star," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(4), pages 1593-1660.
    4. Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2009. "Schooling, Cognitive Skills, and the Latin American Growth Puzzle," CESifo Working Paper Series 2667, CESifo.
    5. Elke Lüdemann & Guido Schwerdt, 2010. "Migration Background and Educational Tracking: Is there a Double Disadvantage for Second-Generation Immigrants?," CESifo Working Paper Series 3256, CESifo.
    6. Hanushek, Eric A. & Woessmann, Ludger, 2012. "Schooling, educational achievement, and the Latin American growth puzzle," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 497-512.
    7. Eric Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2012. "Do better schools lead to more growth? Cognitive skills, economic outcomes, and causation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 267-321, December.
    8. Grogger, Jeffrey & Hanson, Gordon H., 2011. "Income maximization and the selection and sorting of international migrants," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 42-57, May.
    9. Lorenzo Cappellari & Paolo Castelnovo & Daniele Checchi & Marco Leonardi, 2016. "Skilled or educated? Educational reforms, human capital and earnings," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def053, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    10. Francesco Caselli, 2014. "The Latin American Efficiency Gap," CEP Discussion Papers dp1289, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    11. Wulong Gu & Ambrose Wong, 2015. "Productivity and economic output of the education sector," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 165-182, April.
    12. Martins, Lurdes & Veiga, Paula, 2010. "Do inequalities in parents' education play an important role in PISA students' mathematics achievement test score disparities?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 1016-1033, December.
    13. Hanushek, Eric A., 2011. "The economic value of higher teacher quality," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 466-479, June.
    14. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    15. Monazza Aslam & Kim Lehrer, 2014. "Learning by Doing: Skills and Jobs in Urban Ghana," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(8), pages 1119-1134, August.
    16. Edgar Ortiz & Miriam Sosa & Héctor Díaz, 2015. "Educational Levels and the Impact of ICT on Economic Growth: Evidence of a Cointegrated Panel," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 5(9), pages 15-30, September.
    17. Elke Lüdemann, 2011. "Schooling and the Formation of Cognitive and Non-cognitive Outcomes," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 39.
    18. Eric A. Hanushek & Jens Ruhose & Ludger Woessmann, 2015. "Human Capital Quality and Aggregate Income Differences: Development Accounting for U.S. States," CESifo Working Paper Series 5411, CESifo.
    19. Mane, Ferran & Miravet, Daniel, 2016. "Using the job requirements approach and matched employer-employee data to investigate the content of individuals' human capital," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 49(2), pages 133-155.

    More about this item

    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:taf:edecon:v:20:y:2012:i:2:p:139-173. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CEDE20 .

    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.