Female schooling achievement in Jamaica: A market and non-market analysis

The achievement of females relative to males in the Jamaican educational system is analysed from both an institutional and market perspective. It is found that the evidence available is consistent with the view that both pecuniary and non-pecuniary incentives reinforce each other to produce the distinctive pattern of female performance in Jamaica. It is likely that gender differences in socialization within the household better prepare girls for the skills required to succeed in the Jamaican schooling system. In addition, education is often seen as being more important for a girl’s future success than for a boy’s. In the framework of human capital theory, both these institutional features translate into higher marginal benefit (or demand) curves for girls than for boys, which would suggest both greater investment in schooling for girls and higher equilibrium returns on these investments. The empirical evidence is consistent with the inference: Jamaican women have both more education and higher returns to this education than their male counterparts do.