| Thailand's economy and education system have undergone significant change since the 1960s. This thesis studies changes in educational attainment and the returns to education between 1985 and 1995.;Using the existing research base on the relationship between education and earnings, I analyze the changes in educational attainment between 1985 and 1995 and the payoff to education. The study uses individual level data for a sample of men aged 24--35 from the Thai National Labor Force Survey. The methodology is a multiple regression of monthly earnings on years of education that incorporates predictors representing rural or urban residence, regional residence, work experience, and dummy variables representing key educational credentials. This data is augmented by interviews with graduates of adult secondary education programs.;The findings demonstrate that the educational composition of the labor force changed significantly between 1985 and 1995. In addition to general increases in the average number of years of education, between 1985 and 1995 the inequities in educational attainment between rural and urban areas declined. Second, the returns to years of education between 1985 and 1995 increased. Third, the effect of years of education on monthly earnings is nonlinear. Differences emerged in the relative return to years of education depending on the number of years of education attained. Fourth, particular educational credentials have a higher or lower payoff than would be expected based on the number of years of education completed. I find that there is a sheepskin effect for lower secondary, upper secondary, upper vocational, and college credentials in both 1985 and 1995, but that the effect can be negative as well as positive. |
