Quality of Higher Education and the Labor Market in Developing Countries: Evidence from an Education Reform in Senegal

44 Pages Posted: 4 Sep 2015

See all articles by Dorothée Boccanfuso

Dorothée Boccanfuso

Université de Sherbrooke - Department of Economics

Alexandre Larouche

Del Degan, Massé

Mircea Trandafir

Rockwool Foundation Research Unit

Abstract

While many studies examine the effect of primary education quality on labor market outcomes in developing countries, little is known about the effects at higher levels. We exploit the quasi-experiment provided by a large-scale education reform launched in Senegal in 2000 to investigate how quality improvements at the university level affect employment. Our difference-in-difference estimates suggest that young high-skilled workers experienced a nine percentage-point employment gain relative to older workers. They are also more likely to have "better" jobs (in the service industry or government), suggesting a reduction in the mismatch between the quality of high-skill labor demanded and supplied.

Keywords: higher education, employment, impact analysis, quality mismatch

JEL Classification: I21, O15, O55

Suggested Citation

Boccanfuso, Dorothee and Larouche, Alexandre and Trandafir, Mircea, Quality of Higher Education and the Labor Market in Developing Countries: Evidence from an Education Reform in Senegal. IZA Discussion Paper No. 9099, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2655047 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2655047

Dorothee Boccanfuso (Contact Author)

Université de Sherbrooke - Department of Economics ( email )

Sherbrooke, Quebec J1K 2R1
Canada

Alexandre Larouche

Del Degan, Massé ( email )

825 Rue Raoul-Jobin
Québec, QC G1N 1S6
Canada

Mircea Trandafir

Rockwool Foundation Research Unit ( email )

Sejroegade 11
DK-2100 Copenhagen
Denmark

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
99
Abstract Views
775
Rank
482,743
PlumX Metrics