Returns to education in Bangladesh

This paper reports labour market returns to education in Bangladesh using data from recent nationwide household survey. Returns are estimated separately for rural and urban samples, males, females and private sector employees. Substantial heterogeneity in returns is observed; e.g. estimates are higher for urban (than rural sample) and female samples (compared to their male counterparts). Our ordinary least square estimates of returns to education are robust to control for types of schools attended by individuals and selection into wage work.Education, labor market participation, sample selection, Bangladesh

Farm Productivity and Efficiency in Rural Bangladesh: The Role of Education Revisited

This paper reassesses the debate over the role of education in farm pro duction in Bangladesh using a large dataset on rice producing hous eholds from 141 villages. Average and stochastic production frontier functions are estimated to ascertain the effect of education on productivity and efficiency. A full set of proxies for farm education stock variables are incorporated to investigate the 'internal' as well as 'external' returns to education. The external effect is investigated in the context of rural neighborhoods. Our analysis reveals that in addition to raising rice productivity and boosting potential output, household education significantly reduces production inefficiencies. However, we are unable to find any evidence of externality benefit of schooling. We discuss the implication of these findings for rural education programs in Bangladesh.Agriculture, returns to education, stochastic production frontier, Bangladesh, Labor and Human Capital, Productivity Analysis, I21, Q12, N5,

Work-Life Balance Practices and the Gender Gap in Job Satisfaction in the UK: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data

This paper examines the role of work-life balance practices (WLB) in explaining the “paradox of the contented female worker”. After establishing that females report higher levels of job satisfaction than men in the UK, we test whether firm characteristics such as WLB and gender segregation boost the satisfaction of women proportionately more than that of men, thereby explaining why the former are reportedly happier. The results prove that WLB practices increase the likelihood of reporting higher satisfaction but similarly for both demographic groups thereby reducing the gender gap in job satisfaction only slightly. Still, the results indicate that WLB practices at the forefront of worker welfare policy improve the wellbeing of the workforce. Experiments with firm-fixed effects allowed by the matched dimension of the data reveal that firm effects are relevant but they only explain a half of the gender gap in job satisfaction, suggesting that the other half may be due to individual heterogeneity.job satisfaction, work-life balance practices, gender segregation, matched employer-employee data

Inequality of educational opportunity in India: Changes over time and across states

This paper documents the extent of inequality of educational opportunity in India spanning the period 1983-2004 using National Sample Survey (NSS) data. We build on recent developments in the literature that has operationalized concepts in the inequality of opportunity theory (including Roemer's) and construct three indices of inequality of educational opportunity using data on an adult sample. Irrespective of the index used, the state of Kerala stands out as the least unequal in terms of educational opportunities. However, even after excluding Kerala, significant inter-state divergence remains amongst the remaining states. Transition matrix analysis confirms substantial inter-temporal mobility in inequality of opportunity across Indian states. Rajasthan and Gujarat in the West and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the Centre experienced large-scale fall in the ranking of inequality of opportunities. However, despite being poor, Eastern states of West Bengal and Orissa made significant progress in reducing inequality of opportunity. At a region level, Southern, Northeastern and Eastern regions on average experienced upward mobility (i.e. decline in inequality of opportunity) whilst the Central region experienced downward mobility. We conclude by examining the link between progress towards equality of opportunity and poverty reduction, growth and a selection of pro-poor policies

Social attitudes that view female child marriage as a means of protecting respectability need to change

Drawing on their extensive research of female child marriage in Bangladesh, M Niaz Asadullah and Zaki Wahhaj discuss the limitations of current deliberations over the minimum age of marriage law. They write that improving the agency of adolescent girls to make their own life choices should help reduce the incidence the child marriage more effectively than what can be achieved with legislative reform alone

Tackling India’s deepening gender inequality during COVID-19

As India slowly re-opens its economy following its emergency national measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, Kalyani Raghunathan (International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), New Delhi) and M Niaz Asadullah (University of Malaya, Malaysia) explain how India’s already high levels of gender inequality will deepen thanks to the pandemic

Work-life balance practices and the gender gap in job satisfaction in the UK: evidence from matched employer-employee data

This paper examines the role of work-life balance practices (WLB) in explaining the paradox of the contented female worker. After establishing that females report higher levels of job satisfaction than men in the UK, we test whether firm characteristics such as WLB and gender segregation boost the satisfaction of women proportionately more than that of men, thereby explaining why the former are reportedly happier. The results prove that WLB practices increase the likelihood of reporting higher satisfaction but similarly for both demographic groups thereby reducing the gender gap in job satisfaction only slightly. Still, the results indicate that WLB practices at the forefront of worker welfare policy improve the wellbeing of the workforce. Experiments with firm-fixed effects allowed by the matched dimension of the data reveal that firm effects are relevant but they only explain a half of the gender gap in job satisfaction, suggesting that the other half may be due to individual heterogeneity

Military spending, armed conflict and economic growth in developing countries in the post-cold war ara

This paper re-examines the causal impact of military expenditure on growth in the presence of internal and external threats for the period 1990-2013 using data from 70 developing countries. We find that differences in methods, model specifications, and the underlying estimation sample partly explain why past studies have differed in terms of the true effect of military spending. Estimates based on both cross-sectional and panel methods indicate that military expenditure negatively affects economic growth during the post-Cold War era. However, the effect is insignificant in the cross-sectional OLS method and fixed effects model for the full sample and the low-income country sub-sample, respectively. Moreover, the effect of military spending on growth conditional upon conflict exposure is positive and significant across all specifications, albeit the result is specific to internal instead of external conflict

Paths to Development: Is there a Bangladesh Surprise?

Using aggregate indices of education, health, demographic, and gender equality outcomes, we empirically investigate the hypothesis that Bangladesh achieved a higher level of social development compared with countries of similar level of per capita income. Stylized facts and cross-country regression results support this hypothesis for a broad range of dimensions. Further tests show that such achievements do not simply reflect income-mediated channels and social expenditure programs. We conclude by speculating on the role of Bangladesh’s development to sustain the process of growth and on the role of governance and institutional quality for the nexus between growth and development