This dissertation provides evidence of the return to education in Iran as well as measurement of inequality of opportunity and the Human Opportunity Index using cross-section data of Trends in Mathematics and Science Studies and Harmonized Household Income and Expenditure Surveys of several Middle Eastern Countries. The first chapter studies the return to education and the effect of school availability on education attainment in Iran. The Census 2006 allows us to get closer to the district of schooling by focusing on non-migrants. We estimate the return to education and the effect of school availability both for migrant and non-migrant sub-samples. We employ school availability as an instrument to correct the ability bias. We find availability of school increases women's education attainment more than men's and it is higher among the non-migrant sample. Using instrumental variable, the return to education is 6.50% in 2012 suggesting an upward bias in OLS. The second chapter provides estimates of Human Opportunity Index (HOI) in the Middle East and North Africa. Our estimates show the HOI improve over time in MENA region and compare favorably with similar measures computed for other regions, notably Latin America. Using Shapley decomposition, we find that parental background and place of living are the most important circumstances explaining inequality of opportunity to access in basic opportunities. Understanding the change in HOI and factors that influence it most complement existing analyses of inequality of opportunity in education, earning, and consumption for MENA countries because they focus on aspects of inequality of opportunity that are largely provided by the state. The third chapter provides estimates of inequality of educational opportunity using TIMSS dataset. We estimate the index of IOP using the ex-ante approach both for the fourth and eighth grade. The computed index of IOP shows that there is an improvement in IOP both for mathematics and science from grade four to eight. The investigations about relevant inputs suggest that there is a negative relationship between educational expenditure and the level of IOP. The relationship between the index of IOP and average economic growth as well as GDP per capita is positive. / Ph. D. / This dissertation provides evidence of the return to education in Iran as well as measurement of inequality of opportunity and the Human Opportunity Index using cross-section data of Trends in Mathematics and Science Studies and Harmonized Household Income and Expenditure Surveys of several Middle Eastern Countries. The first chapter studies the return to education and the effect of school availability on education attainment in Iran. The results show school availability has a positive and significant effect on women education attainment. We also estimate the rates of return to education for men between 25-60 years old in Iran in 2006 and 2012. Our findings show that the returns to schooling decline in Iran between 2006 and 2012. The second chapter provides estimates of Human Opportunity Index (HOI) in the Middle East and North Africa. Our estimates show the HOI improve over time in MENA region and compare favorably with similar measures computed for other regions, notably Latin America. The HOI evaluates the basic opportunities which mostly publicly provided. This makes the HOI relevant for understanding the effectiveness of MENA governments in providing children with an equal chance to succeed. Our findings show the HOI improves over time in MENA. The improvement over time is not surprising because as a service expands, especially if it starts inequitably, it generally covers more of the less advantaged households. The third chapter provides estimates of inequality of educational opportunity (IOP) using TIMSS dataset. We estimate the index of IOP using variance decomposition method. Our estimates show that in most countries of our sample the index of IOP increases from fourth grade to eighth grade suggesting the circumstances out of the control of an individual play important role in higher level of education. We investigate the correlational relationship between the index of IOP and some economic characteristics. Our findings suggest that there is a negative relationship between educational expenditure and the level of IOP. The relationship between the index of IOP and average economic growth as well as GDP per capita is positive.

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Cette thèse porte sur la mesure et la compréhension des inégalités des chances en santé c'est-à-dire aux inégalités attribuables à des facteurs ne relevant pas de la responsabilité individuelle, tel que le milieu d'origine. Nous portons un intérêt spécifique à la contribution des comportements de santé dans la construction de ces inégalités. Nous développons notre analyse à travers trois axes : (i) la mesure de l'importance respective des conditions de vie dans l'enfance, du niveau d'éducation et des comportements de santé dans l'explication des inégalités de santé ; (ii) l'analyse des mécanismes en jeu dans la transmission intergénérationnelle des comportements de santé avec l'exemple du tabagisme et des habitudes de soins ; (iii) la mesure des différences entre pays européens dans les inégalités des chances en santé. Les analyses empiriques combinent des données prospectives d'une cohorte britannique ainsi que des données rétrospectives issues d'une enquête française et d'une enquête européenne. Les résultats soulignent la contribution aux inégalités de santé des conditions de vie dans l'enfance et du niveau d'éducation de façon directe et de façon indirecte par les comportements de santé. / This thesis focuses on the measurement and the understanding of inequality of opportunity in health which are inequalities related to factors beyond the individual responsability, such as the individual's social background. We focus on the contribution of health-related behaviors in the construction of these inequalities. Our analysis is based on three topics: (i) the measure of the respective contribution of early-life conditions, education and lifestyles to health inequality ; (ii) the analysis of the intergenerational transmission of health-related behaviors with the example of smoking and health care habits ; (iii) the measure of cross-country differences in inequality of opportunity in health with a European perspective. Empirical analysis are conducted with both prospective data using a British cohort and retrospective data using a French study and a European study. The results emphasize the contribution of early-life conditions and education to health inequality both directly and indirectly through lifestyles.

Cette thèse porte sur la mesure de l'inégalité d'opportunité et son effet sur la croissance économique. Le Chapitre 1 étudie les propriétés axiomatiques de deux approches de mesure concurrentes. Dans les deux cas, la population est partitionnée en groupes rassemblant des personnes partageant les mêmes circonstances, ces déterminants de revenu que les individus ne peuvent choisir (ex. sexe ou milieu familial). L'inégalité d'opportunité est alors mesurée comme celle présente au sein d'une distribution contrefactuelle où chacun se voit attribuer le revenu représentatif de son groupe. La première approche considère la moyenne arithmétique comme revenu représentatif. Lorsque le nombre de groupes est grand et que leur taille est petite, ces moyennes sont peu précisément estimées. Afin de d'atténuer ce problème, la seconde approche, dite paramétrique, suppose que les circonstances n'ont pas d'effet d'interaction et remplace la moyenne arithmétique par la prédiction OLS du revenu régressé sur les circonstances. Le Chapitre 1 montre que la méthode paramétrique est faible d'un point de vue axiomatique. En particulier, elle ne respecte pas une version «entre­-groupes» du principe des transferts. Le Chapitre 2 propose une méthodologie afin de contourner le manque actuel de micro-données sur les circonstances parentales, un déterminant majeur de l'inégalité d'opportunité. L'idée est d'utiliser 1 structure des enquêtes démographiques organisées autour de foyers afin de retrouver les circonstances parentales des adultes vivant avec leurs parents, puis d'utiliser une méthode d'ajustement statistique -l'imputation multiple -afin d'obtenir une mesure d'inégalité d'opportunité représentative de la population adulte dans son ensemble. Celle-ci est proche de la« vraie» inégalité d'opportunité, qui repose sur des questions directes à propos du milieu parental contenue dans l'enquête brésilienne du PNAD 1996. Le Chapitre 3 étudie empiriquement une récente explication quant au caractère peu concluant de la littérature empirique sur l'inégalité et la croissance: ce n'est pas l'inégalité de revenus qui compte pour la croissance mais ses deux composantes, à savoir l'inégalité d'opportunité et la composante résiduelle qu'est l'inégalité d'effort. Cette explication est validée au Brésil au niveau municipal durant la période 1980-2010, où le: inégalités d'opportunité et d'effort sont respectivement préjudiciables et bénéfiques à la croissance économique future, comme attendu. Leurs effets sont robustes et significatifs, contrairement à celui de l'inégalité total de revenus. / This thesis is about the measurement of inequality of opportunity and its impact on economic growth. Chapter 1 studies the axiomatic properties of two prominent measurement approaches. In both cases, the population is partitioned into groups of people sharing the same circumstances, those income determinants that are beyond individual control (e.g. sex or parental background) and that shape one's opportunities. Inequality of opportunity is then measured by applying a1 inequality index over a counterfactual distribution where each individual is attributed the representative income of his group. The first approach takes the representative income of a group to be its arithmetic mean. When a large number of small-sized groups are considered, these means can be poorly estimated. To mitigate this issue, the second approach, called parametric, assumes that circumstances have no interaction effect and takes this representative income to be the OLS predicted value of income regressed on circumstances. Chapter I shows that the parametric approach has poor axiomatic properties, especially with respect to a between-group version of the transfer principle. Chapter 2 provides a methodology to circumvent the current lack of microdata on parental background circumstances, a major driver of inequality of oppo1tunity. The idea is to retrieve the parental background of adults living with their parents thanks to the structure of household survey data, and then to apply a missing data procedure -multiple imputation -to obtain estimate of inequality of opportunity that are representative of the overall adult population. These estimates are shown to be close to their "true" counterpa1ts, based on direct questions about parental background contained in the Brazilian PNAD 1996 survey. Chapter 3 empirically investigates a recent and promising explanation for the inconclusiveness of traditional growth-inequality literature: income inequality does not matter for growth while its components -inequality of opportunity and the residual one, inequality of effort -do. This explanation is validated in Brazil at the municipality level over the period 1980-20 l 0, where inequalities of opportunity and effort are respectively detrimental and beneficial to subsequent growth, as expected. Their effects are robust and significant, in contrast to that of total income inequality.

Thesis advisor: Christopher Maxwell / The questions that this paper intends to answer are: 1) Is there a U-shaped relationship between the female labor force participation (FLFP) rate and development in the present day? And 2) If we group countries geographically, will we see the U-shaped function outlined as development occurs over time? The U-shaped function is important because it allows us to predict the direction that the FLFP rate will move, dependent on a country's level of development. This prediction is crucial because there are endless gains of increased FLFP to both women and to society at large. Previous research has shown that in a snapshot in time (1985), there was evidence of the U-shaped function. However, there has been little research on how the function has played out throughout the past 30+ years. This paper finds that the U- shaped function remains robust to present day data. However, grouping countries geographically does not always produce results that support movement along the U-shaped function. Having a clearer understanding of the trends that FLFP follows through development will allow us to more successfully monitor and create policy to help women and society at large reap the benefits of increased women in the workforce. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Economics.

En este trabajo se analiza la desigualdad de oportunidad en ingreso de los jóvenes argentinos. Para la medición de este fenómeno se utiliza información de las encuestas permanentes de hogares realizadas en el país desde el 2004 hasta la actualidad. Se considera el sesgo de selección por co-residencia y dentro del empleo de la muestra, y se lo intenta corregir empleando un modelo de selección múltiple. Para medir el grado de desigualdad de oportunidad se utiliza la metodología presentada en Bourguignon, Ferreira y Menéndez (2007). Los resultados sugieren que mientras la desigualdad de ingresos ha disminuido no parece haber un patrón claro en la desigualdad de oportunidades. / This paper studies inequality of opportunity on earnings among young argentines. It aims to contribute to measure this phenomenon and it uses information from household surveys conducted in Argentina from 2004 to the present. Sample selection into employment and coresidence selection is dealt with a multiple selection model. We consider some econometrics methods implemented by Bourguignon, Ferreira y Menéndez (2007) to measure the degree of inequality of opportunity. The results suggest that while income inequality has decreased there seems no clear pattern of inequality of opportunity.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-08T14:44:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2093357 bytes, checksum: 3fb158ddc9ba4dcac9dcf3dfdb5ab56b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study aims to analyse the income redistribution in Latin American Countries from two essays. The first modeling redistributive preferences with special focus on the impact of mobility expectations on the demand for redistribution. The results suggest demand for self-interest and for considerations of justice based on inequality of opportunity. Furthermore, the results indicate the importance of past mobility and rejection the prospect of upward mobility (POUM) hypothesis of Benabou & Ok (2001). The second study evaluates the effects of income redistribution policies on esponsibility-sensitive" fairness levels in major Latin American countries. In doing so, the following items are analyzed: i) the fairness rule described in Bossert (1995), Konow (1996), and Cappelen & Tungodden (2007) and; ii) the redistribution mechanism (taxation policy) proposed by Ooghe & Peich (2010). The results indicate that taxation does not have a significant efect on Latin American fairness indicators. This behavior can be explained, among other factors, by the fiscal design used, which utilizes high rates associated with the effort variables and fails to equalize unequal opportunities. Additionally, as the redistribution does not equalize differential of opportunities and this is an important component of the redistributive preferences, there is a growing demand for redistribution that starts a specific vicious cycle in Latin American countries. / Este estudo analisa a redistribuição de renda na América Latina a partir de dois ensaios. O primeiro modela as preferências redistributivas com foco especial no impacto das expectativas de mobilidade sobre a demanda por redistribuição. Os resultados sugerem demanda por autointeresse e por considera ações de justiça baseadas na desigualdade de oportunidades. Revela-se ainda a importância da mobilidade passada e a rejeição da hipótese de mobilidade ascendente (POUM) de Benabou & Ok (2001). O segundo ensaio avalia o efeito das políticas de redistribuição sobre o nível de justiça responsibilitysensitive dos principais países latino-americanos. Para tanto, adota-se: i) o critério de justiça contido em Bossert (1995), Konow (1996) e Cappelen & Tungodden (2007) e; ii) a avaliação do mecanismo de redistribuição (política tributária) fornecido por Ooghe & Peich (2010). Os resultados indicam que o sistema de tributação não possui impacto significativo sobre os indicadores de injustiça latino-americanos. Isso pode ser explicado, entre outros fatores, pelo desenho fiscal implementado, que utiliza altas taxas associadas ás variáveis de esforço e não diminui a desigualdade de oportunidades. Adicionalmente, como a redistribuição não equaliza diferenciais de oportunidades e eles constituem importante componente das preferências redistributivas, há uma crescente demanda por redistribuição que inicia um ciclo vicioso específico da região.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-08-12T12:19:01Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) TESE_LEANDRO WILLER P COIMBRA.pdf: 1061880 bytes, checksum: 11f8b239ae17788ee3e063586ea2e919 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-12T12:19:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) TESE_LEANDRO WILLER P COIMBRA.pdf: 1061880 bytes, checksum: 11f8b239ae17788ee3e063586ea2e919 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-30 / FACEPE / Este trabalho foi dividido em trˆes ensaios que se complementam na mesma tem´atica: a discriminac¸ ˜ao salarial. O objetivo ´e a constatac¸ ˜ao do comportamento discriminat´orio no mercado de trabalho brasileiro e a compreens˜ao das motivac¸ ˜oes e efeitos deste comportamento a partir de uma perspectiva econˆomica. Primeiramente, ´e utilizado o m´etodo de Propensity Score Matching para comparar trabalhadores com mesmos n´ıveis de esforc¸os, ocupac¸ ˜ao social, background familiar e outras vari´aveis de circunstˆancias, de forma a evidenciar a discriminac¸ ˜ao salarial baseada na cor da pele. A an´alise aponta para uma remunerac¸ ˜ao por hora trabalhada cerca de 14% menor para os trabalhadores “n˜ao brancos”. Al´em disso, ´e observado uma tendˆencia “elitista”da discriminac¸ ˜ao. Na segunda parte, ´e proposta a modelagem do mercado de trabalho baseada no Modelo de Search de Dale Mortensen, caracterizado por uma distribuic¸ ˜ao de ofertas de sal´ario cont´ınua. Este modelo ´e modificado de forma a introduzir trabalhadores heterogˆeneos quanto a habilidade produtiva e um grau de assimetria informacional entre os agentes. Observou-se que o n´ıvel de assimetria de informac¸ ˜ao de um mercado n˜ao ´e apenas precursor da discriminac¸ ˜ao mas definidor da magnitude desta. Por fim, foca-se na evoluc¸ ˜ao e sobrevivˆencia do comportamento discriminat´orio. Para isto, utilizou-se de um modelo com equil´ıbrio dinˆamico evolutivo, dividido em dois casos diferentes, de forma a endogeneizar o n´ıvel de assimetria de informac¸ ˜ao e da capacidade produtiva dos trabalhadores. Observou-se que o mercado possui possibilidades diferentes de equil´ıbrio, enquanto no primeiro caso, o percentual de trabalhadores de alta habilidade est´a ligado ao maior interesse das firmas selecionarem, no outro, o elevado percentual de trabalhadores de alta habilidade no mercado indica menor necessidade de selec¸ ˜ao. Na realidade, a diferenc¸a entre os dois casos se resume aos prˆemios e punic¸ ˜oes relativos a detenc¸ ˜ao de informac¸ ˜ao por parte dos trabalhadores de baixa habilidade. / This thesis was divided into three works that complement each other with the same theme: wage discrimination. The objective of this study is investigate the discriminatory behavior in the Brazilian labor market and understand the motivations and effects from an economic perspective. First, it is used the method of Propensity Score Matching to compare workers with the same level of effort, social occupation, family background and others variables of circumstances, it highlights wage discrimination based on skin color. The analysis found a wage per hour worked about 14% lower for workers “non-white”. Moreover, a tendency “elite”discrimination is observed. Next, it is proposed to model the labor market based on the Search Model of Dale Mortensen, characterized by a continuous distribution of wage offers. This model is modified to introduce heterogeneous productive ability and a degree of information asymmetry between agents. It was observed that the asymmetric information level of a market is not only the precursor of discrimination but defining the magnitude. Finally, focuses on the evolution and survival of discriminatory behavior. For this, we used a model with evolutionary dynamic equilibrium, divided into two different cases, in order to endogenize the level of asymmetric information and the productive capacity of workers. It was observed that the market has different possibilities to balance, in the first case, the percentage of high-skill labor is linked to higher interest selecting firms, on the other, the high percentage of high-skill labor market indicates less need for selection. In fact, the difference between the two cases comes down to rewards and punishments for the possession of information on the part of low-skill workers.

The dissertation focuses on the different determinants of education, their effects on the educational outcome, and the overall effect of education on the lifetime consequences. The first chapter focuses on the inequality of educational opportunity across different demographic factors. This chapter employs a broader set of social factors to provide fresh insights into the inequality situation in the USA relative to those of the extant literature. The chapter employs polynomial trends for the effects of social factors to identify long-term trends in the determinants of the differences in attainment of each of four achievements (high school graduation, some college, college graduation, and post-college work) across different endogenous social groups. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data for the years of 1968-2013, we show how inequality of educational opportunity and its determinants have evolved over the years. The chapter utilizes the machine-learning process and logistic regression model to identify inequality of opportunity. The second chapter examines the age demographic distribution of graduates across cohorts from 1940 until 1990. Using the PSID data, the paper explored the first and second moment of the age of graduating from high school and college across the US. To deal with the data deficiencies, a large part of the chapter dealt with data preparation. The chapter provides a unique method of extracting information on the graduating age of the individuals both from high school and from college. The results show a large dispersion across the full sample. The data truncated to a standard length, however, provides a much smaller dispersion and much smaller moments. The chapter concludes that as the time passes, people tend to attain education at a younger age. The third chapter investigates the trends of the contribution of different factors of income starting from 1910 cohort. Following Mincer (1974), a wave of papers studied how various factors contribute to the earnings of individuals. This paper contributes to that literature in three ways: (i) using the PSID data, it computes the actual working experience of the individuals, (ii) it studies the cohorts who were born in 1910 or afterwards, unlike the existing papers, and (iii) it adds two variables—technological progress and the occupation with which individuals start their careers—to an extended Mincerian equation. The results re-emphasize the importance of education in lifetime earnings. The results also show that while some of the determinants of income have become more important over the years, other factors have not changed much in importance. / PHD / The reason for choosing the theme ‘Evolution of the Determinants of Educational Attainment and its Consequences’ was to investigate the different determinants of education, their effects on the educational outcome, and the overall effect of education on the lifetime consequences. Education is considered as one of the tools to eradicate poverty. Yet, countries with high educational coverage keeps suffering from poverty, a reason for which is higher inequality of opportunity. In the first chapter, entitled ‘Inequality in Educational Opportunity in the United States’, opportunity inequality in education is illustrated. Much inequality stems from differences in educational attainment. A lack of educational attainment puts an individual behind in the career race, even before the race has started. While individuals are responsible for some of the differences in educational attainment, there are factors outside the control of individuals that play substantial roles. The inequality that arises from these factors is known as inequality of opportunity. This paper focuses on inequality of educational opportunity across socioeconomic background, race, and sex. The factors that are analyzed for their contributions to inequality of educational opportunity are father’s education, father’s occupation, mother’s education, and economic status of the individual’s family. The results show that inequality of opportunity has seen a consistent decline for high school completion. The inequality of opportunity (IO) declines for obtaining some college education for the bottom two social groups and remained persistent for the relatively more advantaged group. For college/post-college education, the IO is much lower and, in general, remained persistent across the social strata. Although the females were behind the males – given the equal opportunity – regardless of the race and socioeconomic status during the beginning and the mid twentieth century, the scenario reversed in the late twentieth century. In terms of educational disparity among races, African Americans trail their White counterparts along all the years. The second chapter ‘First and Second Moments of the Age Distributions of Graduates’ looks into the age characteristics (mean and variance) in graduating from high school and college across the cohorts from 1940s to 1990s. The idea of the paper largely came from the first chapter of the dissertation as we assumed the lack of opportunity at the earlier age could delay the attainment of education. The paper intends to find out the average age of graduation over the years. In the process, the paper put forward a method to extract the information of age of graduation from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data, as the database does not readily avail the information. The chapter concludes that as the time passes, people tend to attain education at a much younger age. Titled as ‘Factors Affecting Income: Education, Experience, and Beyond’, the third chapter investigates the contribution of different factors – education, experience, parental endowments, and labor market conditions – in the returns to education using the PSID data and compare the more recent scenarios with the past. This paper focuses on the trend of the rate of return to different factors of income across the two cohorts – those born between 1910 and 1950, and those born after 1950 – while identifying the changes in the returns for the same education level over time. The paper aims to find out how the contribution of the different factors of earning has changed in the USA over the years. The paper also intends to find out the role of technological progress in reducing the earning gaps across the different social groups. The results re-emphasize the importance of education in lifetime earnings. Experience has become a more important factor of income over the years. The chapter also suggests that income of an individual is a monotonic function of socioeconomic endowments and better endowments resulted in higher returns. Lastly, the chapter finds that the technological investment is progressive in manner.

L’éducation a connu des progrès remarquables au Vietnam au cours des deux dernières décennies. Cependant, l'inégalité des chances en matière d'éducation aggrave les disparités chez les enfants et menace les progrès en termes de productivité du travail. Pourtant, les mécanismes de transmission des inégalités et le rôle des compétences dans ce processus restent encore largement méconnus. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’apporter un nouvel éclairage sur ces questions. Plus précisément, elle vise à étudier comment les compétences interagissent avec les facteurs environnementaux dans l’atteinte des résultats scolaires et l’insertion sur le marché du travail au Vietnam. Le premier chapitre de cette thèse examine dans quelle mesure les compétences prédisent l'abandon scolaire. Le chapitre 2 analyse l’effet du passage au temps complet d’enseignement au primaire sur les inégalités scolaires. Enfin, le chapitre 3 étudie l'importance relative des compétences dans l’insertion des jeunes sur le marché du travail. À cette fin, diverses approches quantitatives sont menées à partir des données de Young Lives. Les contributions de la thèse à la littérature existante sont de prendre en compte les compétences non cognitives dans l’analyse, de considérer l'interaction entre le milieu social et l'environnement scolaire et enfin de traiter les erreurs de mesures des compétences au Vietnam. La thèse montre que les efforts en vue de plus d’égalité d’opportunités scolaires doivent être poursuivis. Elle montre également l’importance d'améliorer les compétences non cognitives pour améliorer le bien-être individuel et la croissance économique. / Vietnam has attained outstanding performance in education during the past two decades. However, inequality in educational opportunities aggravates disparities among children and threaten the improvement of labour productivity. The underlying mechanism for transmitting inequality and role of skills in the process remaining unclear motivates this thesis. It aims to study how skills interact with environmental factors to determine outcomes on education and livelihoods in Vietnam. Firstly, Chapter 1 examines how skills predict dropping out Then Chapter 2 inspects whether full-day schooling reduces educational inequality. Finally, Chapter 3 investigates the relative importance of skills in determining labour market outcomes. To this end, the research applies diversified quantitative approaches using data from the Young Lives in Vietnam. The contributions of the thesis are threefold, namely taking into consideration the non-cognitive skill in the analysis, addressing the interaction between social background and school environment, and the measurement errors accompanied poor proxies for skills in Vietnam. The thesis hints at further levelling educational opportunities of children and enhancement of non-cognitive skills for greater outcomes in life and economic growth