Premium
Private Returns to Education, Migration and Development Policies: The Case of Zimbabwe
Author(s) -
Kwenda Prudence,
Ntuli Miracle
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
african development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.654
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1467-8268
pISSN - 1017-6772
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8268.12110
Subject(s) - human capital , dysfunctional family , economics , poverty , brain drain , sample (material) , private sector , labour economics , development economics , demographic economics , economic growth , psychology , chemistry , chromatography , psychotherapist
Zimbabwe experienced a severe brain drain during the 1998–2008 economic crisis. This paper attempts to explain this phenomenon by examining changes that occurred in the labour market. Using data drawn from the Poverty Assessment Study Surveys and a three‐step procedure to correct for sample selection, we estimate private returns to education before (1995) and during (2003) the crisis. Results indicate that private returns to education significantly declined across all levels with the highest decline occurring among workers with tertiary education. This suggests that part of the human capital flight was due to dysfunctional labour markets. Hence, comprehensive skill‐incentivized labour‐market policies are essential to attract and retain skilled workers.