High Returns from Higher Education

Education has been a key government policy to drive economic empowerment in rural India. However, evidence on returns to education has been mixed. Research has measured education as school enrolments while overlooking completed education. There has been hardly any attempt to see beyond schooling to look at returns to higher education. Here, we test returns to higher education in rural areas, correlating it with agricultural productivity. The results show a steep rise in returns to higher education after the higher secondary level. The corresponding policy implications are also discussed.