What We Teach About Race and Gender: Representation in Images and Text of Children’s Books

Books shape how children learn about society and norms, in part through representation of different characters. We use computational tools to characterize representation in children’s books widely read in homes, classrooms, and libraries over the past century and describe economic forces that may contribute to these patterns. We introduce new artificial intelligence methods for systematically converting images into data. We apply these tools, alongside text analysis methods, to measure skin color, race, gender, and age in the content of these books, documenting what has changed and what has endured over time. We find underrepresentation of Black and Latinx people in the most influential books, relative to their population shares, though representation of Black individuals increases over time. Females are also increasingly present but appear less often in text than in images, suggesting greater symbolic inclusion in pictures than substantive inclusion in stories. Characters in these influential books have lighter average skin color than in other books, even after conditioning on race, and children are depicted with lighter skin color than adults on average. We present empirical analysis of related economic behavior to better understand the representation we find in these books. On the demand side, we show that people consume books that center their own identities and that the types of children’s books purchased correlate with local political beliefs. On the supply side, we document higher prices for books that center nondominant social identities and fewer copies of these books in libraries that serve predominantly White communities

Educational Investment Responses to Economic Opportunity: Evidence from Indian Road Construction

The rural poor in developing countries, once economically isolated, are increasingly being connected to regional markets. Whether these new connections crowd out or encourage educational investment is a central question. We examine the impacts on educational choices of 115,000 new roads built under India's flagship road construction program. We find that children stay in school longer and perform better on standardized exams. Treatment heterogeneity supports the predictions of a standard human capital investment model: enrollment increases are largest where nearby labor markets offer the highest returns to education and lowest where they imply high opportunity costs of schooling

Convocation Committee Proposal

Purpose Statement The purpose statement was designed to drive the nature and format of the Convocation ceremony. The statement can also serve to inform and teach the community about the meaning and purpose of the Convocation ceremony. We anticipate that the purpose statement will be sent to parents, students and staff prior to the Convocation

Correlates of school dropout and absenteeism among adolescent girls from marginalized community in north Karnataka, south India.

Secondary education among lower caste adolescent girls living in rural Karnataka, South India, is characterized by high rates of school drop-out and absenteeism. A cross-sectional baseline survey (N=2275) was conducted in 2014 as part of a cluster-randomized control trial among adolescent girls (13-14 year) and their families from marginalized communities in two districts of north Karnataka. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used. Overall, 8.7% girls reported secondary school dropout and 8.1% reported frequent absenteeism (past month). In adjusted analyses, economic factors (household poverty; girls' work-related migration), social norms and practices (child marriage; value of girls' education), and school-related factors (poor learning environment and bullying/harassment at school) were associated with an increased odds of school dropout and absenteeism. Interventions aiming to increase secondary school retention among marginalized girls may require a multi-level approach, with synergistic components that address social, structural and economic determinants of school absenteeism and dropout

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Schools in Low Socio-Economic Regions in Nicaragua: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) in schools contributes to better health and educational outcomes among school-aged children. In 2012, UNICEF Nicaragua and partners conducted a cross-sectional survey of WaSH in 526 schools in 12 low socio-economic status municipalities in Nicaragua. The survey gathered information on: school characteristics; teacher and community participation; water and sanitation infrastructure; and hygiene education and habits. Survey results were analyzed for associations between variables. WaSH coverage was significantly higher in urban than rural areas. Presence of drinking water infrastructure (43%) was lower than sanitation infrastructure (64%). Eighty-one percent of schools had no hand washing stations and 74% of schools lacked soap. Sanitation facilities were not in use at 28% of schools with sanitation infrastructure and 26% of schools with water infrastructure had non-functional systems. Only 8% of schools had budgets to purchase toilet-cleaning supplies and 75% obtained supplies from students’ families. This study generates transferable WaSH sector learnings and new insights from monitoring data. Results can be used by donors, service providers, and policy makers to better target resources in Nicaraguan schools

Distal renal tubular acidosis and quadriparaesis in Sjögren′s syndrome: A cunning congregate

Sjögren′s syndrome (SS) is a chronic autoimmune disease, chiefly affecting the exocrine glandular function of salivary glands and lacrimal glands. Rarely, it involves the kidneys, central and peripheral nervous system, muscloskeletal apparatus and lungs. We report a rare constellation of SS with distal renal tubular acidosis and quadriparaesis in a young female. History of quadriparaesis was acute, with rapid progression. Supplementary treatment for severe hypokalemia was instituted at the earliest, lest the patient develop respiratory muscle weakness. Concomitantly, metabolic acidosis with alkaline urine was suspected and subsequently investigated. Eventually, this was attributed to impaired renal acidification of urine in the distal tubules. History of dryness of eyes and mouth since 6 months justified salivary gland biopsy. The results yielded a lymphocytic infiltrative pathology strongly favoring SS. The patient benefited from prompt potassium replacement therapy and had complete resolution over the next week. Supportive treatment for predictable manifestations was continued along with potassium supplements

Economic and social development along the urban–rural continuum: New opportunities to inform policy

The economic and social development of nations relies on their population having physical access to services and employment opportunities. For the vast majority of the 3.4 billion people living in rural areas, this largely depends on their access to urban centers of different sizes. Similarly, urban centers depend on their rural hinterlands. Building on the literature on functional areas/territories and the rural–urban continuum as well as insights from central place theory, this review article advances the notion of catchment areas differentiated along an urban-to-rural continuum to better capture these urban–rural interconnections. This article further shows how a new, publicly available dataset operationalizing this concept can shed new light on policymaking across a series of development fields, including institutions and governance, urbanization and food systems, welfare and poverty, access to health and education services, and environmental and natural resource management. Together, the insights support a more geographically nuanced perspective on development