Fifty years of comparative studies of educational returns: a panel in honor of Martin Carnoy and George Psacharopoulos

Session Submission Type: Group Panel

Description of Session

• Objectives and main questions to be addressed in the panel or poster session.
This panel will celebrate the fifty years of comparative research on educational rates of return by honoring two pioneers: Martin Carnoy and George Psacharopoulos. Carnoy conducted the first comparative study of returns in his 1966 doctoral dissertation, which examined educational returns in Mexico (Economic Development and Cultural Change 15-408-419, 1967); shortly after, he produced studies examining returns in Latin America (Journal of Human Resources 2:359-374, 1967). Psacharopoulos published several studies, including the book “Returns to Education: An International Comparison” (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1973) and his CER article George Psacharopoulos "Rates of Return on Investment in Education around the World" (CER 16: 54-67, 1972).

The session will begin with the chair providing a brief introduction to key concept and interpretations, and Carnoy and Psacharapoulos’s main contributions. Next, each panelist will consider changes in the returns (or net benefits) in education over time, across educational levels, and across countries. Finally, the broader implications of the findings (that is, beyond individual financial returns) and persistent methodological problems will be considered by the discussants.

• Main perspectives and/or theoretical/conceptual frameworks
The panelists will use human capital framework developed by economists Gary Becker, Jacob Mincer and Theodore Schultz. Methodologically, the studies will use secondary data sources such as labor force surveys and household surveys. For example, one study will incorporate data on educational systems such as Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The studies will use a variety of econometric techniques such as ordinary least squares, quantile regression, regression discontinuity, and instrumental variables regression. In most studies of private returns, the key outcomes variable will be the natural log of monthly earnings, and the key explanatory variable will be educational attainment. Studies that will address the social benefits will consider a rich set of outcomes such as tax contributions and democratic advancement.

• Importance of the panel/poster session to comparative/international education or the conference theme

Martin Carnoy is a past president of the CIES. George Psacharapoulos is a past recipient of the CIES’s George Bereday Award. Both Carnoy and Psacharapoulos are among the most cited comparativists. Their careers have spanned over 50 years and they have made major contributions to the economics of education. Based on these and many other accomplishments, several CIES members have decided to honor them with a panel. The panelists will focus on comparative studies of returns because the topic continues to be a major research topic in the economics of education. Furthermore, numerous governments and international organizations rely on the findings for determining policies on education systems and labor markets.

Part of the panel will be dedicated to reconciling the positions of Martin Carnoy, George Psacharapoulos and their CIES critics on the usefulness of scholarship on educational returns. The chair’s opening comments will address how Carnoy and Psacharapoulos’s pioneering research on social returns is directly tied to the conference theme of “education that is empowering for all humanity”.

• Description of how the session will be structured
There will be a brief introduction by the panel chair, followed by four presentations, and finally comments by the discussants. The brief introductory comments will address some of the reservations held by comparativists on studies of educational returns. All presenters will provide updates on worldwide returns over time and across regions. Carnoy and Psacharopoulos will then act as discussants.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• M. Najeeb Shafiq, University of Pittsburgh

Presenter

• Martin Carnoy, Stanford University

Individual Presentations

• Returns to investment in education: a decennial update and review of the literature - Harry Patrinos, The World Bank; George Psacharopoulos, Georgetown University

• Comparable estimates of returns to schooling around the world - Claudio Montenegro, The World Bank; Harry Patrinos, The World Bank

• Returns to human capital: schooling, reading literacy, and socio-emotional skills - Alexandria Valerio, The World Bank

Discussants

• Martin Carnoy, Stanford University

• George Psacharopoulos, Georgetown University