Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/72411 
Year of Publication: 
2003
Series/Report no.: 
Centre for Economic Research Working Paper Series No. WP03/19
Publisher: 
University College Dublin, Department of Economics, Dublin
Abstract: 
In this paper a rich and innovative dataset, the International Adult Literacy Survey, is used to examine the impact of functional literacy on earnings. We show that the estimated return to formal education is sensitive to the inclusion of literacy: excluding it biases the return to education in many countries by significant amounts. Literacy itself has a well-determined effect on earnings in all countries though with considerable variation in the size of the effect. The benefits of literacy do not only arise from increasing low levels of literacy: increases at already high levels generate substantial increases in earnings in some countries. In general we find little interaction between schooling and literacy though for a few countries they appear to complement each other.
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
104.98 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.