Human capital and earnings inequality in Brazil, 1988-98: quantile regression evidence

Reza (Gholamreza) Arabsheibani (), Francisco Carneiro and Andrew Henley

No 3147, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: The authors undertake an empirical examination of rates of return to human capital for men in Brazil, through the period of macroeconomic stabilization and trade liberalization, using data from the 1988, 1992, and 1998 Brazilian household surveys (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domic?os, PNAD). The authors estimate simultaneous quantile equations to gain an insight on the impact of human capital on wages across the hourly earnings distribution. They conclude that there is evidence of growing inequality in rates of return to education in Brazil. But the authors find evidence that education is no longer used as a screening device in the labor market, but rather rewarded for its innate association with higher productivity. Although increases in rates of return to education have been more pronounced at the top of the earnings distribution, this has not led to increased inequality. This is because the levels of education and other labor market-rewarded endowments have increased and offset the rate of return effect.

Keywords: Public Health Promotion; Decentralization; Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Curriculum&Instruction; Teaching and Learning; Economic Theory&Research; Fiscal&Monetary Policy; Curriculum&Instruction; Teaching and Learning; Health Monitoring&Evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003-10-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSC ... ered/PDF/wps3147.pdf (application/pdf)

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:wbk:wbrwps:3147

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().