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Research ArticleArticle
Open Access

Measuring Skills in Developing Countries

Rachid Laajaj and Karen Macours
Published online before print December 02, 2019, 1018-9805R1; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.56.4.1018-9805R1
Rachid Laajaj
*Rachid Laajaj is an associate professor at the Universidad de Los Andes
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Karen Macours
**Karen Macours is a professor at Paris School of Economics and INRA researcher
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Abstract

Measures of cognitive, noncognitive, and technical skills are increasingly used in developing country surveys, but have mostly been validated in high-income countries. We use a survey experiment in Western Kenya to test the reliability and validity of commonly used skills measures. Cognitive skills measures are found to be reliable and internally consistent, technical skills are very noisy, and measurement error in noncognitive skills is found to be non-classical. Addressing both random and systematic measurement error using common psychometric practices and repeated measures leads to some improvements and clearer predictions, though concerns remain. These findings hold for a replication in Colombia.

Keywords
  • skills
  • measurement
  • agricultural productivity
JEL codes
  • O12
  • O13
  • O15

This open access article is distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) and is freely available online at: http://jhr.uwpress.org

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Journal of Human Resources: 58 (3)
Journal of Human Resources
Vol. 58, Issue 3
1 May 2023
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Measuring Skills in Developing Countries
Rachid Laajaj, Karen Macours
Journal of Human Resources Dec 2019, 1018-9805R1; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.56.4.1018-9805R1

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Measuring Skills in Developing Countries
Rachid Laajaj, Karen Macours
Journal of Human Resources Dec 2019, 1018-9805R1; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.56.4.1018-9805R1
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Keywords

  • skills
  • measurement
  • agricultural productivity
  • O12
  • O13
  • O15
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