Coping with Change: International Differences in the Returns to Skills

Hanushek, Eric A.; Schwerdt, Guido; Wiederhold, Simon; Woessmann, Ludger

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2849734

Download This Paper

Open PDF in Browser

Add Paper to My Library

Coping with Change: International Differences in the Returns to Skills

IZA Discussion Paper No. 10249

23 Pages Posted: 10 Oct 2016

See all articles by Eric A. Hanushek

Eric A. Hanushek

Stanford University - Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Guido Schwerdt

University of Konstanz - Faculty of Economics and Statistics

Simon Wiederhold

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); Chair of Macroeconomics

Ifo Institute for Economic Research; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research); University of Munich - Ifo Institute for Economic Research

There are 3 versions of this paper

Abstract

Expanded international data from the PIAAC survey of adult skills allow us to analyze potential sources of the cross-country variation of comparably estimated labor-market returns to skills in a more diverse set of 32 countries. Returns to skills are systematically larger in countries that have grown faster in the recent past, consistent with models where skills are particularly important for adaptation to dynamic economic change.

Keywords: economic growth, returns to education, cognitive skills, international comparisons

JEL Classification: J31, I20, O15

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Hanushek, Eric A. and Schwerdt, Guido and Wiederhold, Simon and Wiederhold, Simon and Woessmann, Ludger, Coping with Change: International Differences in the Returns to Skills. IZA Discussion Paper No. 10249, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2849734 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2849734