Functional Literacy, Heterogeneity and the Returns to Schooling : Multi-Country Evidence

Little is known about which of the skills that make up workers' human capital contribute to higher earnings. Past empirical evidence suggest that most of the return to schooling is generated by effects or correlates unrelated to the skills measured by the available tests. This paper uses the International Adult Literacy and the Adult Literacy and Life Skills surveys to obtain multi-country estimates of the components of the return to schooling. The results reveal considerable heterogeneity and a dichotomy between two groups of countries. For a subgroup of educationally advanced countries, nearly half of the return to schooling can be attributed to labor marker-relevant functional literacy skills associated with schooling, while for a subgroup of less educationally advanced countries, such skills account for just over 20 percent of the return to schooling, while the return to schooling mostly reflects the signaling value of schooling.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Fasih, Tazeen, Patrinos, Harry Anthony, Sakellariou, Chris
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2013-11
Subjects:	ABOLITION OF FEES, ACHIEVEMENT SCORES, ACHIEVEMENT TEST SCORES, ACHIEVEMENT TESTS, ADULT LITERACY, ADULT POPULATIONS, AVERAGE SCORE, BASIC SKILLS, BOOKS AT HOME, COGNITIVE ACHIEVEMENT, COGNITIVE SKILLS, COLLEGE EDUCATION, COMPULSORY SCHOOLING, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION, EDUCATED WORKERS, EDUCATION INVESTMENTS, EDUCATION OUTCOMES, EDUCATION STATISTICS, EDUCATION SYSTEM, EDUCATION SYSTEMS, EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT, EDUCATIONAL LEVELS, EDUCATIONALLY ADVANCED COUNTRIES, EFFECTIVE EDUCATION, FOUNDATION SKILLS, FUNCTIONAL LITERACY, FUNCTIONAL SKILLS, HIGH SCHOOL, HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES, HUMAN CAPITAL, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, INTERNATIONAL LITERACY, LABOR FORCE, LABOR MARKETS, LABOUR MARKET, LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION, LEARNING, LEVEL OF LITERACY, LIBRARIES, LIFE SKILLS, LITERACY SKILLS, LITERACY SURVEY, LITERACY SURVEYS, LITERACY TEST, LITERACY TESTS, NUMERACY, PAPERS, PROBLEM SOLVING, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, RATES OF RETURN, READING, READING BOOKS, RETURN TO EDUCATION, RETURNS TO EDUCATION, SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION, SCHOOL GRADUATES, SCHOOL QUALITY, SCHOOLING, SCHOOLS, SKILLED WORKERS, STANDARDIZED TESTS, TENURE, TEST SCORES, VOUCHERS, YOUTH,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/11/18501791/functional-literacy-heterogeneity-returns-schooling-multi-country-evidence https://hdl.handle.net/10986/16917
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