Education and Earnings in Peru's Informal Nonfarm Family Enterprises

摘要

Data from the 1985 Living Standards Survey in Peru are studied to categorize 2,735 nonfarm family enterprises ('informal' businesses without hired labor) and explain earnings per hour of family labor. Regression analyses show significant effects of schooling on earnings, for all enterprises together; this cannot reflect 'screening' but must indicate productivity (allowing for enterprise capital, location and age and sex of workers). Returns differ markedly among four sub-sectors and by location (Lima, other cities, rural) and gender. Results are consistent with education being valueless in traditional activities but paying off in jobs requiring literacy, numeracy and adjustment to change. (Copyright (c) 1990 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank.)