The aim of this article is to estimate the marginal rates of return to various levels of education in India, across the entire wage distribution. For this purpose, unit level data from the 68th round of the National Sample Survey Organisation (India) for the year 2011–2012 have been used, and the technique of quantile regression has been applied. Average estimates were ignored, and the heterogeneity in rates of return was captured across the following disaggregations: (a) all India, public and private sectors, (b) gender, and caste groups (scheduled tribes [STs], scheduled castes [SCs], other backward classes, and others). The findings showcase that the rates of return increased with consecutive higher levels of education. However, this impact varies across the disaggregations examined. The returns are the least for STs and SCs as compared with others (the unreserved category), with the differences in the rates of return being maximum in the private sector. Additionally, women experience a higher rate of return than men. These findings have important policy implications with respect to strengthening the public funding of higher education and encouraging participation from the marginalised segments (STs, SCs), which is otherwise dismal.

中文翻译：

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重返印度教育：捕捉异质性

本文的目的是估算整个工资分配范围内印度各级教育的边际回报率。为此，使用了来自国家样本调查组织（印度）第68轮的2011-2012年的单位水平数据，并且应用了分位数回归技术。平均估计数被忽略，并且在以下分类中获得了回报率的异质性：（a）所有印度，公共和私营部门，（b）性别和种姓群体（预定部落[ST]，预定种姓[SC]） ，其他落后类，以及其他）。调查结果表明，随着教育水平的不断提高，回报率也随之提高。但是，此影响在所检查的各个分类中有所不同。与其他ST（ST）和SC（非保留类别）相比，ST和SC的收益最低，私有部门的收益率差异最大。另外，女性比男性获得更高的回报率。这些发现对于加强高等教育的公共资金和鼓励边缘化群体（ST，SC）的参与具有重要的政策意义，否则这是令人沮丧的。