Returns to education and regional earnings differentials in Egypt

This paper presents an empirical investigation of the determinants of labour market earnings in Egypt. Using Human Capital model, the determinants of regional earnings and returns to education by region are examined. The relative importance of individual and regional effects on earnings inequality is assessed. The main findings of the paper are: (i) the estimated rates of return to education increase with rising educational levels; this is different to the common pattern found in most developing countries. (ii) there are substantial variations in returns to education across regions. (iii) estimates point to the importance of credentials in the Egyptian labour market. Keywords; wage differentials, earnings inequality, developing countries, education

Do market wages influence child labor and child schooling?

Thispaper provides empirical evidence on the joint determinants of child labor, and child schooling, using individual level data from Egypt. The main findings are as follows: 1) A ten percent increase in the illiterate male market wage decreases the probability of child labor by 21.5 percent for boys, and 13.1 percent for girls. 2) Higher local regional income inequality increases the likelihood of child labor. 3) Parents who were child laborers themselves, are more likely to send their children out to work. 4) Local labor market conditions - the share of adults engaged in the public sector, or in non-regular jobs - play an important role in influencing child labor participation. 5) There is a trade-off between child labor, and child schooling. The results suggest that not only is poverty the main cause of child labor, but that child labor perpetuates poverty as well.Street Children,Youth and Governance,Children and Youth,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Standards

Free vs. Restricted Immigration: Bilateral Country Study

This paper tests the differential effects of the generosity of the welfare state under free migration and under policy-controlled migration, distinguishing between source developing and developed countries. We utilize free-movement within the EU to examine the free migration regime and compare that to immigration into the EU from two other groups, developed and developing source countries, to capture immigration-restricted regimes. We standardize cross-country education quality differences by using the Hanushek-Woessmann (2009) cognitive skills measure. We find strong support for the "magnet hypothesis" under the free-migration regime, and the "fiscal burden hypothesis" under the immigration-restricted regime even after controlling for differences in returns to skills in source and host countries

Density, Social Networks and Job Search Methods: Theory and Application to Egypt

The aim of this paper is to study the impact of the size and the quality of social networks on the probability to find a job. We first develop a theoretical model in which individuals are embedded within a network of social relationships. Workers can obtain information about jobs via employed friends belonging to his/her social network. Workers can be either uneducated or educated. We show that, conditional on being employed, the probability to find a job through social networks, relative to other search methods, increases and is concave with the size of the network. The effects are stronger for the uneducated. There is however a critical size of the network above which this probability decreases. We also show that the probability to find a job through friends and relatives decreases with the local unemployment rate. We test empirically these theoretical findings for Egypt using the 1998 Labor Market Survey. The empirical evidence supports the predictions of our theoretical model.Education; Social Networks; Search Methods

Free vs. Restricted Immigration: Bilateral Country Study

This paper tests the differential effects of the generosity of the welfare state under free migration and under policy-controlled migration, distinguishing between source developing and developed countries. We utilize free-movement within the EU to examine the free migration regime and compare that to immigration into the EU from two other groups, developed and developing source countries, to capture immigration-restricted regimes. We standardize cross-country education quality differences by using the Hanushek-Woessmann (2009) cognitive skills measure. We find strong support for the "magnet hypothesis" under the free-migration regime, and the "fiscal burden hypothesis" under the immigration-restricted regime even after controlling for differences in returns to skills in source and host countries.migration, welfare state, EU

Did public wage premiums fuel agglomeration in LDCs?

We build and test a model of how the growth of public jobs with wage premiums may help to explain the high and potentially inefficient level of urbanization in LDCs. Public jobs comprise about 40% of non- agricultural employment in LDCs, and have frequently offered substantial wage premiums. The Harris-Todaro model - and its extensions- suggest that wage premiums induce inefficient agglomeration, but that model critically assumes that wage premium jobs are allocated to favor local residents. This is inapplicable to public appointments in various LDCs. In the two-region general equilibrium model discussed here, the existence of spatial mobility costs are shown to be sufficient for wage premiums to result in inefficient agglomeration in regions that are allocated wage premium jobs. This weakens the assumptions under which wage premiums promote agglomeration, and extends the idea to LDCs such as Egypt, Ethiopia, and Kenya, where public jobs have, until recent reforms, offered substantial wage premiums, but are not allocated so as to favor local residents. The policy implications of this model also differ from Harris-Todaro. For example, if wage premiums are later reduced, the agglomeration persists: with mobility costs, the history of the location of jobs with wage premiums matters. We explore our hypotheses using Egyptian data. Between 1960 and 1986 the share of public jobs increased from 10% to 34% of the labor force, public jobs were centrally allocated, and offered a high total compensation premium. We find that public jobs’ growth has substantially altered the pattern of regional mobility and population shares, in a way that is consistent with this theory of agglomeration due to wage premiums and mobility friction Keywords; public sector, agglomeration, migration, developing country JEL classification: J61, J68, J60, J45, H11 & H40

Illegal Migration, Wages, and Remittances: Semi-Parametric Estimation of Illegality Effects

We consider the issue of illegal migration from Mexico to the US, and examine whether the lack of legal status causally impacts on outcomes, specifically wages and remitting behavior. These outcomes are of particular interest given the extent of legal and illegal migration, and the resulting financial flows. We formalize this question and highlight the principal empirical problem using a potential outcome framework with endogenous selection. The selection bias is captured by a control function, which is estimated non-parametrically. The framework for remitting is extended to allow for endogenous regressors (e.g. wages). We propose a new re-parametrisation of the control function, which is linear in case of a normal error structure, and test linearity. Using Mexican Migration project data, we find considerable and robust illegality effects on wages, the penalty being about 12% in the 1980s and 22% in the 1990s. For the latter period, the selection bias is not created by a normal error structure; wrongly imposing normality overestimates the illegality effect on wages by 50%, while wrongly ignoring selection leads to a 50% underestimate. In contrast to these wage penalties, legal status appears to have mixed effects on remitting behavior.non-parametric estimation, control functions, selection, counterfactuals, illegality effects, illegal migration, intermediate outcomes, Mexican Migration Project

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Migration, Entrepreneurship and Social Capital

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether return migrants are more likely to become entrepreneurs than non-migrants. We develop a theoretical search model that puts forward the trade off faced by returnees since overseas migration provides an opportunity for human and physical capital accumulation but, at the same time, may lead to a loss of social capital back home. We test the predictions of the model using data from Egypt. We find that, even after controlling for the endogeneity of the temporary migration decision, an overseas returnee is more likely to become an entrepreneur than a non-migrant. Although migrants lose their original social networks whilst overseas, savings and human capital accumulation acquired abroad over-compensate for this loss. Our results also suggest that social networks have no significant impact on becoming entrepreneurs for returnees but matter for non-migrants.social capital, entrepreneurship, selection, savings

The impact of labor market reforms on informality in Egypt

Egypt has undergone a number of economic reform measures since the early 1990s, with the aim of liberalizing the economy and moving toward a market economy. As a result, among other measures, the Egyptian government has introduced a new labor law (No. 12) with the goal of increasing flexibility in the labor market. Law 12, which came into effect in July 2003, provides comprehensive guidelines for the recruitment, hiring, compensation, and termination of employees. In particular, it provides increased flexibility for firms in the hiring/firing process, which has been a major bottleneck for job creation in the Egyptian labor market. This working paper examines the effect of the new labor law on formal employment (jobs with contracts). The findings suggest that the new law has had a positive impact on those who were employed in 1998 in the private nonagricultural sector and in the private nonagricultural waged sector. However, the effect was not significant for new entrants to the labor market looking for first jobs