Different impact channels of education on poverty

Abstract

This article analyzes both the monetary and non-monetary effects of the education level of the head of the household on poverty. We propose that schooling returns should not be thought as a single number - usually the schooling coefficient in an income equation - but as a set of elements whose length depends on the number of identified poverty dimensions. The monetary analysis employs the Quantile Regression technique, very helpful especially when one is interested in extremes of the income distribution function. Our results show differences across quantiles of the returns. We also found interesting dissimilarities by gender and urban-rural location. Exploring the non-pecuniary returns, we found that the education of the head positively influences family health and housing conditions.