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6.2 - alternative perspective
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- By Peter F. Orazem, Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Iowa State University, USA
- Edited by Bjorn Lomborg, Copenhagen Business School
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- Book:
- Prioritizing Development
- Published online:
- 30 May 2018
- Print publication:
- 07 June 2018, pp 142-142
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Summary
Summary
Fifty-two percent of all primary-age children who are not attending school are in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, 61 percent of the children expected to receive no primary schooling during their lifetimes reside in that region. If we are to meet the Millennium Development Goal of Universal Primary Education for all, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa represent the greatest challenge. It is inconceivable that UNESCO's estimate of the need for an extra $26 billion annually to achieve universal global primary education will bemet via increased foreign aid. This allows international agencies to blame failures to achieve Universal Primary Education (UPE) on lack of funds, but we should note that the estimated funding gap has steadily increased while the number of children out of school has decreased.
There are, in fact, other reasons for the failure. First, it is clear that not all governments are using their resources for the intended purpose; corrupt countries show poor returns to human capital. Some of the worst countries as measured by the Fund for Peace's Fragile States index are in sub- Saharan Africa, and it is unsurprising that their schooling record is also poor. Out-of-school children in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, or Zimbabwe are unlikely to attend school even if aid is increased.
A second major problem in the region is the large proportion of children who have lost one or both parents. Sub-Saharan Africa has 36 percent of the children worldwide who have lost at least one parent, and 47 percent of those who have lost both. The effects of parental loss on schooling are insignificant in some countries where there are strong extended family linkages to provide support. However, in most countries the problem is getting worse rather than better, with concerns that extended families can no longer provide enough financial and emotional support.
There is widespread acceptance that policies aimed at enhancing human capital investments should focus on the very young, but it is less clear how best to target resources. Experiments such as the famous Perry preschool program for disadvantaged children showed higher cognitive scores on entering school for children who had followed a two-year preschool program. Although these differences soon disappeared, these children were found to have advantages in later life, being more likely to finish high school, go to college, have steady employment, and avoid criminal activity.
5 - Education
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- By Peter F. Orazem, Iowa State University
- Edited by Bjørn Lomborg
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- Book:
- Global Problems, Smart Solutions
- Published online:
- 05 June 2014
- Print publication:
- 14 November 2013, pp 273-331
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Summary
Introduction
The World Bank's first effort to spur educational investments in children was in Tunisia in 1962. At that time, 41 percent of the world's children aged 6–11 were not in school. In SSA, only 25 percent of primary-aged children were in school, while enrollment rates in the Arab States (39 percent) and South Asia (44 percent) were only modestly better. Their parents were not in a position to produce the education in the home – only one-third of the adult population in low-income countries were literate and the average adult education level was 1.6 years. Even in middle-income countries, about 20 percent of the primary-aged children were not in school, and one-third of their parents were illiterate with an average education level of 2.8 years. Given the overwhelming evidence that literacy and schooling can improve health and economic outcomes, the World Bank's focus was on expanding the supply of available schools and qualified teachers.
Over the next forty-nine years, the World Bank has invested $69 billion around the world to increase schooling outcomes in developing countries. Schooling outcomes have improved dramatically in the developing world over that time. Only 10 percent of primary-aged children are not in school. The enrollment rates in the Arab States (86 percent) and South Asia (91 percent) are more than double the rates in 1960. Of the primary-aged children out of school in these regions, just over half will never attend school while the rest have either dropped out after attending for at least some years or will enter eventually. Consequently, primary completion rates are approaching 90 percent or more in these areas, as they are in the world as a whole.
4 - The benefits and costs of alternative strategies to improve educational outcomes
- Edited by Bjørn Lomborg, Copenhagen Business School
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- Book:
- Global Crises, Global Solutions
- Published online:
- 05 June 2012
- Print publication:
- 09 July 2009, pp 180-235
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14 - Lack of education
- Edited by Bjørn Lomborg, Copenhagen Business School
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- Book:
- Solutions for the World's Biggest Problems
- Published online:
- 08 July 2009
- Print publication:
- 18 October 2007, pp 241-262
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Summary
This chapter reviews the stylized facts regarding the distribution of human capital investments and the returns to those investments in developing countries. It then examines recent evidence regarding which policies can induce increased human capital investments in the most efficient manner, using estimated benefits and costs as a guide. Supply-side strategies such as increasing school access or improving school quality are more costly, have less certain benefits, and have a weak record of success. Demand-side interventions such as school sited health programs, vouchers, and conditional transfers have a greater likelihood of improving literacy in the most cost-effective manner.
Benefits
Few empirical relationships have been more frequently investigated than that between years of schooling and earnings. Literally hundreds of studies using alternative data sets from developing and developed countries, spanning many decades, and employing alternative specifications to correct for various potential sources of bias, have derived amazingly consistent estimated private returns per year of schooling. Average returns are almost universally positive and at or above market returns on other investments. Using harmonized household data sets from 48 developing countries, Fares, Montenegro and Orazem (2007) found that returns for women average 9.6% compared to 7.1% for men, and 8.1% for urban residents compared to 7.5% for rural residents. There may be external benefits from schooling beyond those that go to the individual. These social benefits include improved governance due to an educated electorate, improved climate for growth due to agglomerations of skilled individuals, reduced fertility behavior, and improved household health.