Human Capital Investments in Pakistan: Implications of Micro Evidence from Rural Households

A number of cross-country studies suggest that the Pakistani aggregate human capital investments, measured by educational performance, are low relative to other countries of similar per capita income levels. This paper investigates the implications of micro evidence on schooling from rural Pakistan for an understanding of the cases of low human capital investments. The results of school-entrant and dropout regressions using household panel data indicate that the permanent and transitory income movements affect children’s schooling behaviour, indicating credit market imperfections. Hence, the human capital investments in rural Pakistan may be discouraged by poverty, combined with incompletely insured income volatility. Moreover, our analysis points out that there is a distinct gender difference in education.