Working Paper

Coping with Change: International Differences in the Returns to Skills

Eric A. Hanushek, Guido Schwerdt, Simon Wiederhold, Ludger Wößmann
CESifo, Munich, 2016

CESifo Working Paper No. 6114

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.

CESifo Category
Labour Markets
Economics of Education
Keywords: cognitive skills, returns to education, economic growth, international comparisons
JEL Classification: J310, I200, O150

Also published as: NBER Working Paper 22657, Information