Mbibachris/degrees-without-dividends

Mincerian wage analysis of GLSS 7 (Ghana) — Data for Impact Datathon 2026, UCC. Returns to education in formal vs informal sectors. # Degrees Without Dividends **Data for Impact Datathon 2026 — UCC Data Literacy Week | 3rd June 2026** *Department of Data Science and Economic Policy, University of Cape Coast* > *"More schools will not close this gap. More formal jobs will."* --- ## What This Project Is About Ghana has invested heavily in education. Tertiary enrolment tripled in two decades. Yet over 80% of Ghana's workforce remains in the informal economy — where, as this analysis shows, education earns almost nothing. Using the Ghana Living Standards Survey 7 (GLSS 7, 2016/17) and Mincerian wage regression, we follow 4,029 working-age adults to answer one question: **Does education pay off — and for whom?** The answer depends entirely on which sector you end up in. --- ## Key Findings | Finding | Result | |---------|--------| | Aggregate return to schooling | **13.8% per year** (95% CI: 12.8–14.8%) | | Formal sector return | **17.3% per year** (p **Note:** Raw GLSS 7 `.sav` data files are not included in this repo — they are proprietary survey microdata (~440 MB). See Data below for where to download them. --- ## Data **Survey:** Ghana Living Standards Survey 7 (GLSS 7) **Fielded by:** Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) **Period:** 2016/17 **Original sample:** 59,864 individuals **Analysis sample:** 4,029 working-age adults with valid wage records (after winsorising at 1st/99th percentile) ### Download the GLSS 7 Microdata The data is publicly available (free registration may be required): | Source | Link | |--------|------| | **Ghana Statistical Service (official microdata portal)** | statsghana.gov.gh | | **World Bank Microdata Library** | microdata.worldbank.org | After downloading, place these three files in the **project root** (they are gitignored and will be found automatically by the Rmd): ``` g7sec0.sav — Section 0: household roster g7sec1_5.sav — Sections 1–5: individual characteristics, …