Rates of Return to Education in Asia: A Review of the Evidence

At regular intervals during the past 20 years, George Psacharopoulos has presented aggregate rates of return (RORs) to investments in education for each major geographical region. He argues forcibly that clear global ROR patterns are discernible. Perhaps the most well known of these is that the aggregate social RORs to primary education are consistently the highest throughout the world. However, by carfully scrutinizing the original ROR estimates, this article shows that none of his ROR patterns exists in Asia.

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