The comparative analysis of the return to education in Post-Soviet countries

Abstract

This thesis explores the private returns to education in the former Soviet countries of Central Asia and Azerbaijan with EBRD “Life in Transition - 2016” survey data. The private returns to education is the concept assessing an increase in wages as a result of an increase in the level of education, as introduced by Jacob Mincer. It is important to understand the returns to education for education and labor market actors (students and their parents, universities), policy-makers and employers since they provide informational signals in a market of imperfect competition, asymmetry of information and other market failures. According to the results of the analysis, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan have the lowest rates of the returns to education, while Uzbekistan has the highest rates. This possibly should be explained by the underdeveloped structure of the economy and labor markets (in the case of Tajikistan), low quality of education (in the case of Azerbaijan) and lack of educated people and high demand for education (in the case of Uzbekistan).