What is it about?

The private rate of return is 16% for higher education and the social rate of return is 10%. The returns to education for females are higher than those for males. We use recent data to update the analysis for an important country. The paper discusses the policy implications of the findings.

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Why is it important?

This paper estimates private and social returns to investment in education in Turkey, using the 2017 Household Labour Force Survey (latest available at the time of writing) and alternative methodologies. The analysis uses the 1997 education reform of increasing compulsory education by three years as an instrument. Contrary to many findings in other countries, private returns to those working in the public sector are higher than those in the private sector, and private returns to those who followed the vocational track in secondary education are higher than those in the general academic track.

Perspectives

It was great to write this paper with two of the world's top education economists, Aysit Tansel and George Psacharopoulos.

Harry Patrinos
World Bank Group

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This page is a summary of: Private and Social Returns to Investment in Education: the Case of Turkey with Alternative Methods, Applied Economics, November 2020, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2020.1841086.
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