Returns to education: evidence from UK twins

DfES. All errors and omissions remain the authors

Are civil servants paid too much? - A distributional analysis of the public-private wage gap in Switzerland

This study investigates the public-private sector wage gap in Switzerland with a special focus on distributional aspects. Using data from the Swiss Labour Force Survey the study finds that the wage structure differs between the sectors. The public sector guarantees a higher base salary while the private sector rewards education and experience more. This is consistent with the more compressed wage distribution in the public sector. The wage gap and its unexplained part are falling over the range of wages. At the low end of wages public sector workers a paid an unexplained premium. At high wages differences in characteristics explain more than the raw wage gap, suggesting that there is an unexplained premium for working in the private sector.

The unequal distribution of unequal pay - An empirical analysis of the gender wage gap in Switzerland

In this paper we analyze the distribution of the gender wage gap. Using microdata for Switzerland we estimate conditional wage distribution functions and find that the total wage gap and its discrimination component are not constant over the range of wages. At low wages an overproportional part of the wage gap is due to discrimination. In a further analysis of specific individuals we examine the wage gap at different quantiles and propose a new measure to assess equal earnings opportunities. These additional results reveal that it is primarily low education that causes the large discrimination component at low wages.Gender wage gap · wage structure · wage distribution

Tim Spector

We use a new sample of UK female identical twins to estimate economic returns to education. We use identical twins to control for family effects and ability bias (due to genes) and the education reported by the other twin to control for schooling measurement error. We also investigate the within-twin pair and within family correlations with observable correlates of ability. Our estimates suggest a return to schooling for females of about 7.7%. Contact address: Jonathan Haskel, Economics, QMW, Mile End Rd, London E1 4NS, England; [email protected], <www.qmw.ac.uk/~ugte153>. We thank the DfEE and the ESRC for financial support. We are of course solely responsible for the views, opinions and errors in this paper. 2 1

Returns to Education: Evidence from UK Twins

We use a new sample of UK female identical twins to estimate private economic returns to education. We report findings in three areas. First, we use identical twins, to control for family effects and genetic ability bias, and the education reported by the other twin to control for schooling measurement error. Our estimates suggest a return to schooling for UK females of about 7.7%. Second, we investigate within-twin pair ability differences by examining within-twin pair and between-family correlations of education with observable correlates of ability (including birthweight, ability tests and reading scores). Our findings suggest lower ability bias in within-twin pair regressions than pooled regressions. Third, using data on twins smoking we show smoking reflects family background and using it as an instrument exacerbates ability bias.ability; bias; measurement error; returns to education; smoking; twins

The impact of adult basic skills pathfinder extension activities Stage 2 of the evaluation

Includes bibliographical referencesAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:7761. 34123(no 438) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo