Education, earnings, and inequality in Brazil, 1982-98 - implications for education policy
The educational attainment of Brazil's labor force, has gradually increased over the past two decades. At the same time, the government has pursued a series of economic structural adjustment policies. The authors investigate how these simultaneous advances have altered the relationship between labor market earnings, and education. They find that the returns to education in the labor market, fundamentally changed between 1982, and 1998. While the returns to tertiary education increased sharply, the returns to primary education dropped by 26 percent, and those to lower secondary, by 35 percent. Moreover, the authors argue, the marginal reduction in wage inequality that occurred in this period was linked primarily to a reduction in the returns to schooling, and only secondarily, to a more equitable distribution of schooling. The findings suggest that the supply of highly skilled labor is inadequate to meet demand. That suggests a need for policy action aimed at increasing access to, and completion of tertiary education. Increasing the supply of highly skilled labor, would improve prospects for both economic growth, and reduce wage inequality.
|Date of creation:||31 Oct 2001|
|Contact details of provider:|| Postal: 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433|
Phone: (202) 477-1234
Web page: http://www.worldbank.org/
More information through EDIRC
References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Green, Francis & Dickerson, Andy & Saba Arbache, Jorge, 2001.
"A Picture of Wage Inequality and the Allocation of Labor Through a Period of Trade Liberalization: The Case of Brazil,"
Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 1923-1939, November.
- Francis Green & Andy Dickerson & Jorge Saba Arbache, 2000. "A Picture of Wage Inequality and the Allocation of Labour Through a Period of Trade Liberalisation: The Case of Brazil," Studies in Economics 0013, School of Economics, University of Kent.
- Marcelo Neri & José Márcio Camargo, 1999.
"Distributive effects of Brazilian structural reforms,"
Textos para discussão
406, Department of Economics PUC-Rio (Brazil).
- Camargo, José Márcio & Neri, Marcelo Côrtes, 2002. "Distributive effects of Brazilian structural reforms," Sede de la CEPAL en Santiago (Estudios e Investigaciones) 31756, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
- Neri, Marcelo Cortes & Camargo, José Márcio, 2002. "Distributive effects of Brazilian structural reforms," FGV/EPGE Economics Working Papers (Ensaios Economicos da EPGE) 467, FGV/EPGE - Escola Brasileira de Economia e Finanças, Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil).
- Moshe Buchinsky, 1998. "Recent Advances in Quantile Regression Models: A Practical Guideline for Empirical Research," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(1), pages 88-126.
- Kevin M. Murphy & W. Craig Riddell & Paul M. Romer, 1998. "Wages, Skills, and Technology in the United States and Canada," NBER Working Papers 6638, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Fiess, Norbert M. & Verner, Dorte, 2004. "The dynamics of poverty and its determinants - the case of the Northeast of Brazil and its states," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3259, The World Bank.
- Robbins, Donald & Gindling, T H, 1999. "Trade Liberalization and the Relative Wages for More-Skilled Workers in Costa Rica," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 140-154, June.
- Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January.
- Behrman, Jere R & Birdsall, Nancy, 1985. "The Quality of Schooling: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(5), pages 1202-1205, December.
- Levy, Frank & Murnane, Richard J, 1992. "U.S. Earnings Levels and Earnings Inequality: A Review of Recent Trends and Proposed Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 1333-1381, September.
- Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-442, June.
- Adrian Wood, 2002. "Globalization and wage inequalities: A synthesis of three theories," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 138(1), pages 54-82, March.
- Dan T. Rosenbaum, 2000. "Ability, Educational Ranks, and Labor Market Trends: The Effects of Shifts in the Skill Composition of Educational Groups," JCPR Working Papers 146, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research. Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)