Does education contribute? a micro and macroeconomics analysis of education's role in Philippine society
Date
2014-12
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Abstract
Despite strong theoretical support, empirical evidence on the social rates of return of education has been mixed. In the Philippines, there is a limited number of studies done on social returns and all estimates are smaller than private returns since these only consider the social costs of education and not its social benefit. Using samples from the 2003 and 2013 July Labor Force Surveys and PSA' s annual Gross Regional Domestic Expenditure publications from 1993-2013, this paper attempts to estimate the social rates of return of education in the country and compare it to its private counterpart. Average formal years of schooling per region are used as proxies for human capital stock while GDP per capita, GDP per labor, and GDP per hour worked are used as proxies for productivity. Results show that private returns of education is between 12-14% but there is weak evidence of the existence of social rates of return. Jobless growth and near micronumerosity may have caused the insignificance of the results. This is consistent with Pritchett's analysis that social returns to education is weak if there is limited demand for an educated workforce.
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Education, Philippine society, educated workforce