Australian Development Gateway

The Australian Development Gateway (ADG) strives to support members of the development community in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. The site has been created with participation from members of government, private, academia and non-government organisations. User feedback mechanisms have been incorporated to guide future directions of the site. The site is optimised for low bandwidth access to enable the widest participation throughout the Asia Pacific region.

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Education & development

Estimating the returns to education (pdf 376kb)

This study investigates the existence of a relationship between a country's labor market characteristics and the pattern of returns to education along the conditional earnings distribution.

The few studies that have examined educational returns patterns focus on high-income countries, showing investments to be more profitable at the top of the income distribution. The implication is that investments may increase inequality.

Extending the analysis to 16 East Asian and Latin American countries we observe mixed evidence in middle-income countries and decreasing returns in low-income countries. Such differences between countries could be due to more job mobility in developed countries, scarcity of skills, or differential exposure to market forces.

 

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