published in: Journal of Population Economics, 2010, 23 (1), 251-272
We use a quantile regression framework to investigate the degree to which work-related
training affects the location, scale and shape of the conditional wage distribution. Human
capital theory suggests that the percentage returns to training investments will be the same
across the conditional wage distribution. Other theories – whether based on imperfections in
the labour market or on skill-mix heterogeneity – suggest that this need not be the case.
Using the first six waves of the European Community Household Panel, we investigate these
issues for private sector men in ten European Union countries. Our results show that, for the
vast majority of countries, investment in training yields similar percentage returns across the
conditional wage distribution. Only Belgium was an outlier in this respect. However, our
results do indicate that there are considerable differences in mean returns to training across
countries.
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