Abstract:
This thesis explores the private returns to education in the former Soviet countries of Central Asia and
Azerbaijan with EBRD “Life in Transition - 2016” survey data. The private returns to education is the
concept assessing an increase in wages as a result of an increase in the level of education, as introduced
by Jacob Mincer. It is important to understand the returns to education for education and labor market
actors (students and their parents, universities), policy-makers and employers since they provide
informational signals in a market of imperfect competition, asymmetry of information and other market
failures.
According to the results of the analysis, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan have the lowest rates of the returns to
education, while Uzbekistan has the highest rates. This possibly should be explained by the
underdeveloped structure of the economy and labor markets (in the case of Tajikistan), low quality of
education (in the case of Azerbaijan) and lack of educated people and high demand for education (in the
case of Uzbekistan).
