Does schooling make sense? A household perspective on the returns to schooling for self-employed, farmers and employees in Egypt.
(2005) In Lund Studies in Economic History 33.- Abstract
- Why do some children in the developing world choose to stay out of school? Is it mainly because poverty leaves them with no options or because schooling seems to offer them few benefits? The answers to these questions have profound policy implications. An empirical input into this discussion is the extent to which schooling can actually be perceived as a profitable option in various countries and, in extension, what factors influence the extent of this perceived profitability.
When the usefulness of schooling is looked at from this perspective, some special considerations are motivated, as compared to when we look at the usefulness of schooling from the society's point of view. For example, we should consider all sectors... (More) - Why do some children in the developing world choose to stay out of school? Is it mainly because poverty leaves them with no options or because schooling seems to offer them few benefits? The answers to these questions have profound policy implications. An empirical input into this discussion is the extent to which schooling can actually be perceived as a profitable option in various countries and, in extension, what factors influence the extent of this perceived profitability.
When the usefulness of schooling is looked at from this perspective, some special considerations are motivated, as compared to when we look at the usefulness of schooling from the society's point of view. For example, we should consider all sectors that might be a relevant employment alternative for the individual, which for the developing world includes the self-employed in the agricultural sector, rather than only looking at the return to education for salaried workers, as is commonly done. It is also relevant to disaggregate the return for various degrees. On the other hand, the various concerns for causality issues, which are of great relevance for growth-related research, are only of concern for the usefulness of schooling to the extent that individuals are aware of these issues and take them into account in their decision-making.
Egypt is a country that has been characterised by a low and unequal educational attainment, although great progress has been made in later years. Previous studies on the return to education in the country, for salaried labour, have indicated that the country also has been characterised by relatively low returns. This thesis utilises the 1997 Egypt Integrated Household Survey and it finds that the picture of low returns remains if the analysis is broadened and refined along the lines indicated above. Several reasons for these low returns are discussed, e.g. quality problems with the school system and, for the self-employed in agriculture and the small-scale sector, a history of policy bias against them. It is also speculated that these results might have at least some relevance for the evolvement of attainment in Egypt. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Avstår barn i fattiga länder från utbildning framförallt för att de är fattiga eller för att de upplever att skolan inte har något meningsfullt att erbjuda? Svaret på den frågan har stor betydelse för vilken politik som bör föras. Ett empiriskt bidrag till en sådan frågeställning är i vilken utsträckning som utbildning kan tänkas vara ett ?lönsamt? alternativ för individer i olika länder, och, i förlängningen, vilka faktorer som kan tänkas påverka graden av denna lönsamhet.
Om vi vill undersöka utbildningens lönsamhet ur individens perspektiv kan det vara motiverat att ta något annorlunda hänsyn jämfört med när vi ser på den ?sociala lönsamheten?. Det kan exempelvis vara extra... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Avstår barn i fattiga länder från utbildning framförallt för att de är fattiga eller för att de upplever att skolan inte har något meningsfullt att erbjuda? Svaret på den frågan har stor betydelse för vilken politik som bör föras. Ett empiriskt bidrag till en sådan frågeställning är i vilken utsträckning som utbildning kan tänkas vara ett ?lönsamt? alternativ för individer i olika länder, och, i förlängningen, vilka faktorer som kan tänkas påverka graden av denna lönsamhet.
Om vi vill undersöka utbildningens lönsamhet ur individens perspektiv kan det vara motiverat att ta något annorlunda hänsyn jämfört med när vi ser på den ?sociala lönsamheten?. Det kan exempelvis vara extra motiverat att titta på samtliga sektorer som individen kan tänkas arbeta i, vilket, för u-ländernas del, inkluderar arbete i familjejordbruk, men även arbete i andra typer av familjeföretag och liknande.
Egypten är ett land som har karakteriserats av låg och ojämlik utbildning, även om framsteg har gjorts de senaste åren. Studier på avkastningen av utbildning i landet för lönearbetare, har pekat på att landet också har karakteriserats av en relativt låg avkastning. Den här studien använder sig av ?the Egypt Integrated Household Survey? från 1997 för att konstatera att bilden av en relativt låg avkastning på utbildning kvarstår även när analysen breddas till andra sektorer och analysen på andra sätt har anpassats till individens perspektiv. Olika orsaker till den låga avkastningen diskuteras, exv. kvalitetsproblem i skolväsendet. En historik av diskriminering av familjeföretag både i och utanför jordbruket pekas också ut som en möjlig förklaring. Det spekuleras också kring att dessa resultat kan bidra, åtminstone delvis, till att förklara landets bristande utbildningsframgångar. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/25094
- author
- Lindgren, Mattias LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Dr Clemens, Michael, Center for Global Development, Washington
- organization
- publishing date
- 2005
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Social and economic history, EIHS, casual labour, employees, farmers, SMEs, labour market, returns to schooling, Education, Egypt, Ekonomisk och social historia
- in
- Lund Studies in Economic History
- volume
- 33
- pages
- 303 pages
- publisher
- Almqvist & Wiksell International
- defense location
- Crafoordsalen, EC1 Holger Crafoords Ekonomicentrum, Lund
- defense date
- 2005-05-21 10:15:00
- ISSN
- 1400-4860
- ISBN
- 91-22022121-3
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 667e1606-8c21-4edb-94b4-260c8a2a4b25 (old id 25094)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 16:28:32
- date last changed
- 2019-05-21 18:41:25
@phdthesis{667e1606-8c21-4edb-94b4-260c8a2a4b25,
abstract = {{Why do some children in the developing world choose to stay out of school? Is it mainly because poverty leaves them with no options or because schooling seems to offer them few benefits? The answers to these questions have profound policy implications. An empirical input into this discussion is the extent to which schooling can actually be perceived as a profitable option in various countries and, in extension, what factors influence the extent of this perceived profitability.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
When the usefulness of schooling is looked at from this perspective, some special considerations are motivated, as compared to when we look at the usefulness of schooling from the society's point of view. For example, we should consider all sectors that might be a relevant employment alternative for the individual, which for the developing world includes the self-employed in the agricultural sector, rather than only looking at the return to education for salaried workers, as is commonly done. It is also relevant to disaggregate the return for various degrees. On the other hand, the various concerns for causality issues, which are of great relevance for growth-related research, are only of concern for the usefulness of schooling to the extent that individuals are aware of these issues and take them into account in their decision-making.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
Egypt is a country that has been characterised by a low and unequal educational attainment, although great progress has been made in later years. Previous studies on the return to education in the country, for salaried labour, have indicated that the country also has been characterised by relatively low returns. This thesis utilises the 1997 Egypt Integrated Household Survey and it finds that the picture of low returns remains if the analysis is broadened and refined along the lines indicated above. Several reasons for these low returns are discussed, e.g. quality problems with the school system and, for the self-employed in agriculture and the small-scale sector, a history of policy bias against them. It is also speculated that these results might have at least some relevance for the evolvement of attainment in Egypt.}},
author = {{Lindgren, Mattias}},
isbn = {{91-22022121-3}},
issn = {{1400-4860}},
keywords = {{Social and economic history; EIHS; casual labour; employees; farmers; SMEs; labour market; returns to schooling; Education; Egypt; Ekonomisk och social historia}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Almqvist & Wiksell International}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Studies in Economic History}},
title = {{Does schooling make sense? A household perspective on the returns to schooling for self-employed, farmers and employees in Egypt.}},
volume = {{33}},
year = {{2005}},
}