The School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London

Overview

Study

Thesis title:

The Political Economy of Higher Education and Labour Markets: The Case of Malaysia in the 1990s

Year of Study:

4

Internal Supervisors

• Anne Booth
• Ben Fine
• Ben Groom

The present work refutes the human capital theory developed by Mincer (1958, 1974) in the context of higher education and labour markets in Malaysia. It is built on the neoclassical framework, and thus there is fundamental tension between the theory and reality. When it is applied, it becomes apparent that it conceals rather than reveals the realities. It still can not explain the historical and political-economic factors behind real world events. This must be understood appropriately and urgently, and the human capital theory must be refuted in the Malaysian context. Instead, I argue that the Malaysian government representing the underlying ethnic and social relations constructed the environment in which higher education and labour markets operated. As a result, higher education and labour markets in Malaysia are highly associated with ethnicity. It is supported by the following quantitative findings: (i) higher education enrolment is highly associated with ethnicity; (ii) so is labour force participation of those with higher educational attainment with ethnicity; and (iii) so is unemployment of them with ethnicity. These realities are completely inconsistent with and set aside by the human capital theory. To understand them, it must be refuted.

PhD Publications

Aihara, A (2007), “Mahathir’s Criticism Towards Abdullah” (in Japanese), JAMS Bulletin, No. 36.

Conference Presentation (including forthcoming):
Aihara, A (2008), “Myth or Realities of Human Capital Theory: Evidence from Higher Education and Labour Markets in Malaysia”, Paper to be presented at the Sixth International Malaysian Studies Conference, Malaysian Social Science Association, 5-7 August 2008.

Aihara, A (2008), “Paradoxes of Higher Education Reform in Malaysia: Ethnic Divide and Government Intervention Weakened?”, Paper to be presented at the 24th ASEASUK Conference, The Association of Southeast Asian Studies in the UK (ASEASUK), 20-22 June 2008.

Aihara, A (2007), “Labour Market Policies under Abdullah”, Paper presented at the Annual Conference of Japanese Association of Malaysian Studies (JAMS), 2 December, Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan.

Aihara, A (2006), “Malaysia in 2006: Abdullah-Mahathir Spat”, Invited speech at Japanese Association of Malaysian Studies (JAMS), 18 November, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.