This paper estimates the returns to schooling in Egypt using a policy reform that reduced primary
school from 6 to 5 years. As a result of this reform, which was implemented in 1988, compulsory
schooling declined from 9 to 8 years. The results indicate that the reform led to a substantial decline
in completed years of schooling among the affected cohorts. We exploit this policy change to
estimate the causal impact of schooling on wages and find that among men ages 20 to 45 the return
of schooling is between 2.0 to 5.7 percent. These estimated returns are much lower than the wage
returns estimated in other developing countries with the exception of Turkey where returns to
schooling are found to be similarly low.