Does education pay off? Subjective expectations with regard to education in rural India

This paper presents the first results of a study conducted on subjective expectations that parents have about the costs and returns to education. This is done by using a detailed child-level dataset from the three villages of Dokur (Mahbubnagar district, Andhra Pradesh), Kalman and Shirapur (Sholapur district, Maharashtra). The perceived returns differ by region, gender of the child and caste, with girls and members of the scheduled caste and the tribe categories being at a disadvantage.