Examined the statistical relationship between education and earnings in Brazil and the benefits of staying one extra year in school. Overall, the economic reward for staying in school for one more year fundamentally changed from 1982-98, and this development fundamentally altered the way education was remunerated in the labor market. Four…

Earnings functions have been widely used to estimate the returns to education and training. Many studies have relied on the Mincerian specification for the earnings function, which embodies several assumptions. A study of Brazilian workers' wages finds that the Mincerian specification yields upwardly biased estimates of the returns to education,…

Presents new estimates of the rates of return to Brazilian education in 1989. Modifies customary Mincerian methodology to capture the wage effects of changes in the labor force's educational structure. Results suggest that workers with less than university education compete with each other (are substitutes), whereas more highly educated workers…

Uses 1980 Brazilian census data to analyze sources of earnings variations, emphasizing the role of education, labor segmentation, geographic location, and sector of economic activity. Results indicate a sizable rate of return to investment in education across labor market segments, especially among rural and self-employed workers. Internal…

Estimates the returns to schooling in Brazil in 1980, by fitting earnings functions to census microdata. The average private rate of return has fallen by about one-third from 1970 but still remains a respectable 12 to 13 percent. When schooling levels are disaggregated, the lowest private rates emerge for primary education, and the highest for…