| Abstract: | The paper uses data from the 1980 Brazilian census to analyse the sources of earnings variation among males with emphasis on the role of education, labor market segmentation, geographic location and sector of economic activity. The results indicate a sizeable private rate of return to investment in education across labor market “segments”, especially among rural workers and the self-employed. Such a finding is upheld after econometric corrections for dependent variable (earnings) truncation and selectivity bias regarding who enters a particular economic sector. However, regional earnings differentials persist even after adjustment for a set of personal and job characteristics. Thus, internal migration still has a role to play towards reducing regional earnings disparities. |
