Education and expenditure inequality in Myanmar: An analysis with the 2006 and 2012 Household Income and Expenditure Survey in an urban and rural setting

Abstract

AbstractBased on the Household Income and Expenditure Surveys in 2006 and 2012, this study analyses the roles of education in expenditure inequality in Myanmar using three inequality decomposition methods. Expenditure inequality was very high among ASEAN countries and much of the inequality was due to inequalities within urban and rural areas. Expansion of secondary education is important in urban areas, while primary education needs to be strengthened in rural areas to reduce expenditure disparity between the urban and rural sectors. Since expenditure inequalities between educational groups were small in both urban and rural areas, expenditure inequalities within educational groups need to be decreased to reduce overall expenditure inequality. The government needs to strengthen income‐redistribution policies and social security programmes, promote the formal sector, and enforce the minimum wage regulation to reduce expenditure inequality. Since older age groups tend to have larger expenditure inequalities in urban areas, the government needs to strengthen social safety net programmes and raise pension coverage in the urban private sector. Since a very high expenditure inequality existed among younger households in the urban tertiary educational group, the government may need to introduce policies that could promote linkages between industry and academia to remove a mismatch between the qualifications of university and college graduates and the needs of employers.