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DOES EDUCATION REDUCE INCOME INEQUALITY? A META‐REGRESSION ANALYSIS
Author(s) -
Abdullah Abdul,
Doucouliagos Hristos,
Manning Elizabeth
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of economic surveys
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.657
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1467-6419
pISSN - 0950-0804
DOI - 10.1111/joes.12056
Subject(s) - economics , inequality , extant taxon , meta regression , economic inequality , income inequality metrics , econometrics , meta analysis , income distribution , econometric analysis , distribution (mathematics) , regression analysis , demographic economics , regression , labour economics , mathematics , statistics , medicine , mathematical analysis , evolutionary biology , biology
This paper reexamines the effects of education on inequality through a comprehensive meta‐regression analysis of the extant empirical literature. We find that education affects the two tails of the distribution of income: Education reduces the income share of top earners and increases the share of the bottom earners. Education has been particularly effective in reducing inequality in Africa. Some of the results suggest that secondary schooling appears to have a stronger effect than primary schooling, though this finding is not always robust. The heterogeneity in reported estimates can be largely explained by differences in the specification of the econometric model and measure of inequality and education.