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Returns to education in Sri Lanka: a pseudo-panel approach

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  • Rozana Himaz
  • Harsha Aturupane

Abstract

This study employs a pseudo-panel approach to estimate the returns to education among income earners in Sri Lanka. Pseudo-panel data are constructed from nine repeated cross sections of Sri Lanka's Labor Force Survey data from 1997 to 2008, for workers born during 1953--1974. The results show that for males, one extra year of education increases monthly earnings by about 5% using the pseudo-panel estimation rather than 9% as in the ordinary least-squares (OLS) estimation. This indicates that not controlling for unobservables such as ability and motivation biases the OLS estimation of returns upwards by about 4% on average, driven mainly by what happens in urban areas. It also suggests that males with higher ability seem to be acquiring more years of education. This is contrary to what has been observed recently in countries such as Thailand [Warunsiri, S., and R. McNown. 2010. “The Return to Education in Thailand: A Pseudo-Panel Approach.” World Development 38 (1): 1616--1625], where the opportunity cost of education seems to be high, such that high-ability individuals leave education for the labour market.

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  • Rozana Himaz & Harsha Aturupane, 2016. "Returns to education in Sri Lanka: a pseudo-panel approach," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 300-311, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:24:y:2016:i:3:p:300-311
    DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2015.1005575
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    1. Deaton, Angus, 1985. "Panel data from time series of cross-sections," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1-2), pages 109-126.
    2. Richard Blundell & Lorraine Dearden & Barbara Sianesi, 2003. "Evaluating the impact of education on earnings in the UK: Models, methods and results from the NCDS," IFS Working Papers W03/20, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    3. Heckman, James J. & Lochner, Lance J. & Todd, Petra E., 2006. "Earnings Functions, Rates of Return and Treatment Effects: The Mincer Equation and Beyond," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 7, pages 307-458, Elsevier.
    4. Verbeek, Marno & Nijman, Theo, 1993. "Minimum MSE estimation of a regression model with fixed effects from a series of cross-sections," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1-2), pages 125-136, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sam Jones & Thomas Pave Sohnesen & Neda Trifkovic, 2023. "Educational expansion and shifting private returns to education: Evidence from Mozambique," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(6), pages 1407-1428, August.
    2. Kumara, Ajantha Sisira, 2015. "Wage Differentials in Sri Lanka: The case of a post-conflict country with a free education policy," MPRA Paper 68068, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 25 Nov 2015.
    3. Tanthaka Vivatsurakit & Jessica Vechbanyongratana, 2020. "Returns to education among the informally employed in Thailand," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 34(1), pages 26-43, May.
    4. Lavin, Felipe Vasquez & Bratti, Luna & Orrego, Sergio & Barrientos, Manuel, 2020. "Assessing the Use of Pseudo-panels to Estimate the Value of Statistical Life in Developing Countries," EfD Discussion Paper 20-20, Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg.
    5. Dai Binh Tran & Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat, 2023. "The returns to education and wage penalty from overeducation: New evidence from Vietnam," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 1267-1290, October.
    6. Muhammad Nauman Malik & Masood Sarwar Awan, 2016. "Analysing Econometric Bias and Non-linearity in Returns to Education of Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 837-851.
    7. Saule Kemelbayeva, 2020. "Returns to schooling in Kazakhstan: an update using a pseudo-panel approach," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 437-487, September.
    8. Rumman Khan, 2018. "Assessing cohort aggregation to minimise bias in pseudo-panels," Discussion Papers 2018-01, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    9. Ali Reza Oryoie & Atiyeh Vahidmanesh, 2022. "The Rate of Return to Education in Iran," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(2), pages 813-829, June.
    10. Himaz, Rozana & Aturupane, Harsha, 2021. "Why are boys falling behind? Explaining gender gaps in school attainment in Sri Lanka," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    11. Kengo Igei, 2018. "Managing Were the Adverse Effects of Disability on Employment Mitigated during 2002-2015 in South Africa?: A Pseudo-Panel Approach," Working Papers 168, JICA Research Institute.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I00 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General - - - General
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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