This paper revisits the relationship between human capital and income inequality, using an updated data set on human capital inequality and a novel database on earnings inequality. We find an inverted U-shaped relationship between these two inequality indicators, but with significant differences across countries regarding the turning point.…

Recent evidence indicates substantial heterogeneity in the returns to skills across countries, but only a few studies have explained the varying patterns in the return to skills. Using the 2013 STEP data for Ghana and Kenya, we estimate the causal effect of cognitive and noncognitive skills on a large set of labour market outcomes by controlling…

With an estimated 115 million children not attending primary school in the developing world, increasing access to education is critical. Resource constraints limit the effectiveness of demand-based subsidies. This paper focuses on the importance of a supply-side factor--the availability of low-cost teachers--and the resulting ability of the market…

Using matched employer-employee data from ten African countries, we examine the relationship between wages, worker supervision, and labor productivity in manufacturing. Wages increase with firm size for both production workers and supervisors. We develop a two-tier model of supervision that can account for this stylized fact and we fit the…

In this article the authors examine the remittance interpretation for parents' selective investment in boys' education in sub-Saharan contexts. Using evidence from several African countries, they compare the relative capacity of married women versus men to assist their respective families of origin. They measure this capacity by women's leverage…

This book looks at the issue of youth unemployment and examines policy responses. Part I considers the youth unemployment problem. Chapter 1 is an overview, covering size of the problem and the close relationship between youth and adult unemployment. Chapter 2 examines youth unemployment characteristics and distribution of unemployment across…