Human Capital and Gender Inequality in Middle-Income Countries: Schooling, Learning and Socioemotional Skills in the Labour Market [Paperback]

Using comparable survey data on these schooling, skills, and labour market outcomes from 13 developing and emerging economies worldwide, this book revisits human capital and gender inequality models. It presents new estimates of the returns to different levels of schooling as well as the cognitive and socioemotional skills for women and men.

This is a very timely volume. The importance of gender equality cannot be overemphasized given the historical low participation of women in schooling and in the labour market. The volume also provides great insights on the differential impact of socioemotional skills on labour market outcomes.
Jane Mariara, Executive Director, Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP).

This book by Elizabeth King and Dileni Gunewardena analyzes gender differences in educational human capital and their effects on the labor earnings gaps observed across different income levels and in a diverse set of country circumstances. The authors draw attention to the role of cognitive and socioemotional skill components of human capital in informing such earnings gaps in addition to the conventional measure of years of schooling. Using primary survey data of 13 countries and innovative quantitative methods and interpretations, the book provides solid evidence on the simultaneous and stubborn presence of glass ceilings and sticky floors experienced by women in different parts of the world. This book will be found very useful to students of gender economics, labor economists, policy practitioners, and gender activists.
Binayak Sen, Director-General, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies

The role of cognitive and socioemotional skills alongside education in determining peoples success in the labour market has been the topic of a growing body of research - but prelc$