Essays on Education and Labor Economics

Abstract

Esta tese contém três artigos que investigam problemas relacionados à Economia do Trabalho, Desenvolvimento Econômico e Economia da Educação.

In this paper we study the allocation of public expenditures across educational stages in a developing country. We construct a general equilibrium model that features heterogeneous agents, credit restrictions, basic and tertiary education, public and private educational institutions. We calibrate the model’s parameters using Brazilian data. Simulations show three of the model’s features. First, economic inequality is mainly explained through endogenous educational decisions, instead of exogenous ability shocks. Second, abolishing public educational institutions contracts GDP by 5.5%, decreases welfare of households in the first income quartile by 7%, and does not affect significantly the welfare of the remaining households. Third, borrowing constraints are tight for the poorest agents in the economy. In the main exercise, we find that reallocating public expenditures from tertiary towards basic education to mimic Denmark’s allocation of public expenditures across educational stages decreases GDP, aggregate welfare and the Gini coefficient by 1.5%, 0.2% and 2%, respectively.