 Returns to schooling, ability and cognitive skills in PakistanMonazza Aslam (), Faisal Bari and Geeta Kingdon Education Economics, 2012, vol. 20, issue 2, 139-173 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. Date: 2012 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:edecon:v:20:y:2012:i:2:p:139-173 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2010.488470 Access Statistics for this article Education Economics is currently edited by Caren Wareing and Steve Bradley More articles in Education Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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