Interpreting the Sustainable Development of Human Capital and the Sheepskin Effects in Returns to Higher Education: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan

Zhimin Liu, Aftab Ahmed Memon, Woubshet Negussie and Haile Ketema
Additional contact information
Zhimin Liu: College of Public Administration, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Aftab Ahmed Memon: College of Public Administration, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Woubshet Negussie: College of Land Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Haile Ketema: College of Land Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-16

Abstract: According to poststructuralists, workers with higher level of education and possession of potential experience are supposed to have higher wages. Yet, there are plausible questions that arise as to what levels of education or work history are needed for the enhancement of wage discrimination. Additionally, the outcomes arising from rehashing years of schooling are worth considering. We used a several methods, employing the administrative Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) data from Pakistan without ignoring environmental effects. Our estimated results support the conventional assumptions of linearity of log-wage. First, we found substantial returns for postgraduate diploma holders in both public and private sectors, even after controlling the individual’s heterogeneity. Second, we did notice a significant divergence in return to low-level education (LLE) and job history. Third, rehashing years of education may create suspiciousness regarding the lack of competence. Our results suggest that continuous investment in human capital toward postgraduate diploma may result in higher premiums.

Keywords: higher education; human capital investment; rate of returns; screening and sheepskin effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/6/2393/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/6/2393/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:6:p:2393-:d:334248

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().