Arbeitspapier
Misinformed, mismatched, or misled? Explaining the gap between expected and realized graduate earnings in Mozambique
Inaccurate expectations of future wages are found in many contexts. Yet, existing studies overwhelmingly refer to high-income countries, and there is little evidence regarding the sources of expectational errors. Based on a longitudinal survey of graduates from the six largest universities in Mozambique, we find the gap between expected and realized first earnings are extremely large. Applying a novel decomposition procedure, we find these errors are not driven by incorrect information about labour market returns. Job mismatches of various kinds account for over one-third of the total expectational error, while the remaining error reflects bias from misleading reference points (superstar salaries). While this suggests a need for greater transparency regarding levels of remuneration, we find no evidence that optimistic expectations are associated with poorer labour market outcomes.
- ISBN
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978-92-9256-804-7
- Language
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Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
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Series: WIDER Working Paper ; No. 2020/47
- Classification
-
Wirtschaft
Demand and Supply of Labor: General
Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡
- Subject
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job mismatch
Mozambique
optimism
tracer study
wage expectations
- Event
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Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
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Jones, Sam
Santos, Ricardo
Xirinda, Gimelgo
- Event
-
Veröffentlichung
- (who)
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The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
- (where)
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Helsinki
- (when)
-
2020
- DOI
-
doi:10.35188/UNU-WIDER/2020/804-7
- Handle
- Last update
-
10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET
Data provider
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Arbeitspapier
Associated
- Jones, Sam
- Santos, Ricardo
- Xirinda, Gimelgo
- The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
Time of origin
- 2020
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