The medium run effects of education expansion
Subtitle: evidence from a large school construction program in Indonesia
By: Esther Duflo
Contributors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics
Series: Working paper series / Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics -- working paper 01-46; Working paper (Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics) -- no. 01-46.
Publisher: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 38
Description: This paper studies the medium run consequences of an increase in the rate of accumulation of human capital in a developing country. From 1974 to 1978, the Indonesian government built over 61,000 primary schools. The school construction program led to an increase in education among individuals who were young enough to attend primary school after 1974, but not among the older cohorts. 2SLS estimates suggest that an increase of 10 percentage points in the proportion of primary school graduates in the labor force reduced the wages of the older cohorts by 3.8% to 10% and increased their formal labor force participation by 4% to 7%. I propose a two-sector model as a framework to interpret these findings. The results suggest that physical capital did not adjust to the faster increase in human capital. Keywords: General equilibrium, Program evaluation, Adjustment costs. JEL Classification: O1, O4, I2.
Notes: "November 2001."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-38).

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