A worker is said to be overeducated if he/she has acquired more education than is required to perform his/her job. In the absence of data measuring the number of years of schooling required to perform particular jobs, we propose a new approach to testing for overeducation. Overeducation is confirmed if we observe that education levels rose in jobs…

The positive impact of education on earnings, wages, and economic growth is well documented; however, the issue of education-occupation matching in developing countries has been largely ignored. Since workers' levels of schooling and their occupations' required level of education both affect wages, policymakers may find it useful to note if such…

The 1980s were a "lost decade" for Latin America, due to the international debt crisis. This paper explores the lost decade's effects on schooling indicators in Mexico. Falling opportunity costs improved schooling indicators at the same time a reduced national income worsened them. Enrollment rates were stagnant. (33 references) (MLH)