Rates of return to education: Does the conventional pattern prevail in sub-Saharan Africa?

In his most recent review of rates of return to education (RORE), Psacharopoulos reaffirms that the conventional pattern of continent wide aggregate social and private ROREs continues to prevail among both developed and developing countries. In particular, ''primary education continues to exhibit the highest social profitability in the world regions'' (Psacharopoulos, 1994). A detailed examination of individual RORE studies undertaken in sub-Saharan African countries reveals, however, pervasive theoretical and empirical shortcomings which seriously undermine the credibility of aggregate RORE estimates for the continent as a whole.