Description: Labor-Public Workshop

Location: 368A Heady Hall

Title: Explaining Heterogeneity in Country Returns to Human Capital

Abstract:  This study explores the role of good governance, exposure to disasters and ethnic fractionalization on the returns to human capital, using an unbalanced panel of returns to education and experience from 154 countries observed between 1970 and 2021. The results support a strong role for good governance in fostering good returns to human capital. Some evidence suggests that the role of good governance is greatest at the lower tail of earnings within a country, lowering wage inequality.