Return to Schooling in Senegal (La Rentabilite De L'Investissement Dans L'Education AU Senegal)

Since the 60's, the return to schooling gave rise to growing interest from decision makers to help them prioritise public spending. However, most of the research on the topic deal with internal returns to schooling. This study attempts to measure external returns to investment made by households on education (private return) and by authorities (social return). It is well known that Senegalese households and government devote a lot of resources to education without knowing precisely the returns they get to this investment. This study aims to fill this gap. We use the method of internal returns applied to Enquete Senegalaise Aupres des Menages (ESAM) for 1995. The gross incomes used are also those of 1995. The results show that in Senegal, education exhibit high returns to investment with private returns being higher than the social returns. Furthermore, the analysis by sector shows that social investment for secondary and higher education is not cost-effective as opposite to primary and intermediate levels. Finally, unemployment and failure have a negative impact on social and private returns to schooling