Returns to Schooling and Income Distribution by Cohort in Chile: An Analysis Based on Synthetic Panel Data

We estimate the rate of return to primary, secondary and university education for cohorts born from 1945 to 1975. Estimated returns start at a common level of 20% and then diverge, to finally converge at 30%. Regarding income distribution, we observe a dramatic improvement at the margin, especially after the cohort born in 1963 and again after the cohort born in 1973. About half of the working population was born before 1963. Hence this improvement at the margin is not seen in the stock.