Que piensan los latinoamericanos del BID? (What Do Latin Americans Think of the IDB? )

Este trabajo emplea la encuesta Latinobarómetro para analizar las percepciones de los latinoamericanos sobre el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), el Banco Mundial y el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI). Se analiza la manera en que las nociones de la gente sobre estas organizaciones multilaterales y sus juicios sobre las mismas se ven influenciados por las características demográficas y socioeconómicas de los encuestados, el país donde viven, la posición financiera del BID en ese país, las condiciones macroeconómicas y la orientación política de los encuestados, así como las actitudes hacia la democracia y el libre mercado. Los resultados indican que hay noticias tanto buenas como malas para el BID. Por el lado negativo, el BID es la menos conocida de las tres organizaciones internacionales, pero por el lado positivo, es la que tiene el mejor nivel entre los que están familiarizados con ellas. (Disponible en inglés)

What do Latin Americans think of the IDB?

Using the Latinobarómetro survey, this paper examines Latin Americans' perceptions of the IDB, the World Bank and the IMF. The study analyzes how people's knowledge and evaluation of these multilateral organizations are affected by the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents, the country where they live, the financial position of the IDB in that country, macroeconomic conditions and interviewees' political orientation and attitudes towards democracy and free markets. The results indicate both good and bad news for the IDB. Negatively, it is the least-known of the three international organizations; but positively, it is the best rated among those familiar with them. Demographic variables and socioeconomic levels are important determinants of who knows these organizations. In terms of grading, the demographic characteristics of the respondent seem to have no impact. Conversely, economic status, macroeconomic conditions (to some extent), and the political orientation of the respondent are significant determinants of people's evaluation

Education Quality and Teaching Practices

Improving school quality with limited resources is a key issue of policy. It has been suggested that instructing teachers to follow specific practices together with tight monitoring of their activities may help improve outcomes in under-performing schools that usually serve poor populations. This paper uses an RCT to estimate the effectiveness of guided instruction methods as implemented in under-performing schools in Chile. The intervention improved performance substantially and by equal amounts for boys and girls. However, the effect is mainly accounted for by children from relatively higher income backgrounds and not for the most deprived. Based on the CLASS instrument we document that quality of teacher-student interactions is positively correlated with the performance of low income students; however, the intervention did not affect these interactions. Guided instruction can improve outcomes, but it is a challenge to reach the most deprived children

What do you think of the IDB? Conclusions from an opinion survey of Latin American leaders about multilateral organizations

This document analyzes the results of a Web-based survey conducted by the Research Department to assess how the IDB is viewed by political and corporate leaders in the region. The questionnaire included 31 questions that compared the IDB to the IMF, World Bank, CAF, BCIE and CDB. The sample includes the responses of 336 representatives from the 26 Latin American and Caribbean IDB member countries. In general, the IDB has a better image than the other multilateral organizations in understanding development problems and contributing to their solutions. Its main comparative advantage is in the design of social service projects (education, health and social security). The IDB also is clearly perceived to outperform its peers in public sector modernization and infrastructure projects. The IDB's weakest areas are related to its efficiency (lengthy loan approvals) and efforts to help discipline macroeconomic and other policies. Respondents believe that all international organizations should expand their technical assistance and knowledge activities not tied to projects or loans. For the IDB, the survey results also assign a high priority to increasing projects in social areas

Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full? Enrollment, Graduation, and Dropout Rates in Latin America

We use 292 household surveys from 18 Latin American countries to document patterns in secondary school graduation rates over the period 1990-2010. We find that enrollment and graduation rates increased during that period while dropout rates decreased. We provide two types of explanations for these patterns. Countries implemented changes on the supply side to increase access, by increasing the resources allocated to education and designing policies to help students staying in school. Despite this progress, graduation rates are still generally low, there still persist remarkable gaps in educational outcomes in terms of gender, income quintiles, and regions within countries, and the quality of education is generally low

Enrollment, graduation, and dropout rates in Latin America: is the glass half empty or half full?

We use 292 household surveys from eighteen Latin American countries to document patterns in secondary school graduation rates over the period 1990–2010. We find that enrollment and graduation rates increased during that period, while dropout rates decreased. We provide two types of explanations for these patterns. Countries implemented changes on the supply side to improve access, by increasing the resources allocated to education and designing policies to help students stay in school. Despite this progress, graduation rates are still generally low, and there are remarkable gaps in educational outcomes in terms of gender, income quintiles, and regions within countries. The quality of education is also generally low

Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full? : Enrollment, Graduation, and Dropout Rates in Latin America

We use 292 household surveys from 18 Latin American countries to document patterns in secondary school graduation rates over the period 1990-2010. We find that enrollment and graduation rates increased during that period while dropout rates decreased. We provide two types of explanations for these patterns. Countries implemented changes on the supply side to increase access, by increasing the resources allocated to education and designing policies to help students staying in school. Despite this progress, graduation rates are still generally low, there still persist remarkable gaps in educational outcomes in terms of gender, income quintiles, and regions within countries, and the quality of education is generally low.Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS

Under the "Cloak of Invisibility" : Gender Bias in Teaching Practices and Learning Outcomes

This paper analyzes gender bias in teaching in low-performing schools in Chile. To carry out the analyses, the authors used videotaped classes for fourth graders and coded 237 tapings. Results show a general (although not uniform) bias in teachers' actions that resulted in less attention to female students. Gender bias had an even greater effect in classrooms where the teachers had worse interactions with students. Results show that less effective teachers (according to the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, or CLASS) show a larger gender bias. Greater gender bias is also correlated with lower scores for girls in Chile's standardized test (Sistema de Medición de la Calidad de la Educación, or SIMCE). With a few exceptions, the measures of gender bias in teacher-student interaction do not show statistically significant correlations with the test scores of boys

Failing to notice? Uneven teachers’ attention to boys and girls in the classroom

Abstract This paper analyzes whether teachers’ attention to boys and girls differs in low-performing schools in Chile, where large gender gaps in test scores are also observed. We coded 237 videotaped classes of fourth graders, identifying specific behaviors of teachers toward boys and girls. The results show a general imbalance in teachers’ attention and interactions favoring boys. Gender attention gap is correlated with lower scores in math for girls on Chile’s national standardized test (SIMCE). The gender attention gap was also greater in general in classrooms in which teachers had overall worse interactions with students, as measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). The evidence in this paper contributes to the discussion about whether traditional measures of teacher–student interactions really capture all that matters for learning. JEL Classification O12, J16, I2https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146266/1/40172_2018_Article_69.pd

Chronic Pancreatitis: Relationship to Acute Pancreatitis and Pancreatic Cancer

No abstract available.Image: University of Verona logo. Verona, Italy