Investigations into returns to education in sub Saharan Africa

This dissertation investigates the relevance of degrees and the heterogeneity in the returns to education after a reform (National Education Reform Program) in sub-Saharan Africa. In my first chapter, I explore the existence and extent of sheepskin effects in Ghana. I also investigate the existence of employer learning in Ghana using data from the Ghana Manufacturing Enterprise Survey (GMES). I find that sheepskin effects only exist for secondary school degrees before the 1987 reform in Ghana. However, after the 1987 reform, I find that sheepskin effects exist for secondary school and university degrees. I also find that value of university degrees decrease as firms learn about the productivity of their workers. In my second chapter, I also explore the existence of sheepskin effects using a unique dataset from South Africa. I find that sheepskin effects are only statistical significant for General Education and Training diploma (equivalent of a U.S. high school diploma). I extend the sheepskin effects study by exploring the race differences in sheepskin effects and the change in the effects when South Africa ended apartheid. My third chapter looks at the heterogeneity in the returns to education in Ghana after the education reform in 1987. The NERP involved a reduction in the education years from 17 to 12 for pre-tertiary education and a change in the curriculum from an "academic" to a more "vocational" system. I explore the changes in the returns to education using different "graduation-windows." My results show that there was an increase in the returns to an additional year of schooling in Ghana after the reform suggesting that a more vocational education system is better suited for Ghana's economy.