Return on Investment in Human Capital in Russia: Regional Aspect

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to assess the return on investment in human capital in Russia in a regional context. To achieve this goal, based on the data of the Russian monitoring of the economic situation and health of the population of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, 2 specifications of the Mincer equation were assessed. The sample consists of individual questionnaire data for 9–30 waves (2000–2021). The general population is divided into eight sub-samples, each of which characterizes a federal district (FD). Several important results were obtained: the lowest return in the North Caucasus Federal District (NCFD), this result is explained by the lack of jobs for highly skilled workers and the high level of corruption in the regions of the NCFD; rich FDs have a lower return on investment in HC than poor ones; the difference between the categories of respondents with incomplete secondary education and respondents with completed secondary education is insignificant; the highest return on higher education is in the Far Eastern Federal District (FEFD), as respondents with higher education from the FEFD receive 62.6 percent more than respondents with less than secondary education.