Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP4215
Authors: Nauro F. Campos; Dean Jolliffe
Abstract: How valuable are the skills acquired under socialism in a market economy? This Paper throws light on this question using unique data covering the years before and during transition (1986-98) for about 3 million Hungarian wage earners. We find that returns to a year of schooling increased by 75% from 6.4% in 1986 to 11.2% in 1998. We also find that the private sector rewards formal education more than the public and, in terms of gender, although in 1986 women had greater returns to schooling than men, by 1998 this difference had been eliminated.
Keywords: Human Capital; Hungary; Transition Economics
JEL Codes: I20; J20; J24; J31; O15; O52; P20
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| years of schooling (I21) | wages (J31) |
| liberalization of the economy (E69) | value of education (I26) |
| private sector (L33) | returns to education (I26) |
| gender dynamics (J16) | returns to schooling (I26) |