Education, Earnings, and Inequality in Brazil, 1982-98 : Implications for Education Policy

Blom, Andreas ; Holm-Nielsen, Lauritz ; Verner, Dorte

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: COMPOSITION;    DEVELOPING COUNTRIES;    DRAWING;    ECONOMIC GROWTH;    ECONOMIC REFORMS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2686
RP-ID  :  WPS2686

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The educational attainment ofBrazil's labor force, has gradually increased over thepast two decades. At the same time, the government haspursued a series of economic structural adjustment policies.The authors investigate how these simultaneous advances havealtered the relationship between labor market earnings, andeducation. They find that the returns to education in thelabor market, fundamentally changed between 1982, and 1998.While the returns to tertiary education increased sharply,the returns to primary education dropped by 26 percent, andthose to lower secondary, by 35 percent. Moreover, theauthors argue, the marginal reduction in wage inequalitythat occurred in this period was linked primarily to areduction in the returns to schooling, and only secondarily,to a more equitable distribution of schooling. The findingssuggest that the supply of highly skilled labor isinadequate to meet demand. That suggests a need for policyaction aimed at increasing access to, and completion oftertiary education. Increasing the supply of highly skilledlabor, would improve prospects for both economic growth, andreduce wage inequality.