Schooling in Developing Countries: The Roles of Supply, Demand and Government Policy

In developing countries, rising incomes, increased demand for more skilled labor, and government investments of considerable resources on building and equipping schools and paying teachers have contributed to global convergence in enrollment rates and completed years of schooling. Nevertheless, in many countries substantial education gaps persist between rich and poor, between rural and urban households and between males and females. To address these gaps, some governments have introduced school vouchers or cash transfers programs that are targeted to disadvantaged children. Others have initiated programs to attract or retain students by expanding school access or by setting higher teacher eligibility requirements or increasing the number of textbooks per student. While enrollments have increased, there has not been a commensurate improvement in knowledge and skills of students. Establishing the impact of these policies and programs requires an understanding of the incentives and constraints faced by all parties involved, the school providers, the parents and the children. The chapter reviews the economic literature on the determinants of schooling outcomes and schooling gaps with a focus on static and dynamic household responses to specific policy initiatives, perceived economic returns and other incentives. It discusses measurement and estimation issues involved with empirically testing these models and reviews findings. Governments have increasingly adopted the practice of experimentation and evaluation before taking steps to expand new policies. Often pilot programs are initiated in settings that are atypically appropriate for the program, so that the results overstate the likely impact of expanding the program to other settings. Program expansion can also result in general equilibrium feedback effects that do not apply to isolated pilots. These behavioral models provide a useful context within which to frame the likely outcomes of such expansion.

Promotion with and Without Learning: Effects on Student Enrollment and Dropout Behavior

Many educators and policymakers have argued for lenient grade promotion policy – even automatic promotion – in developing country settings where grade retention rates are high. The argument assumes that grade retention discourages persistence or continuation in school and that the promotion of children with lower achievement does not hamper their ability or their peer’s ability to perform at the next level. Alternatively, promoting students into grades for which they are not prepared may lead to early dropout behavior. This study shows that in a sample of schools from the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan, students are promoted primarily on the basis of merit. An econometric decomposition of promotion decisions into a component that is based on merit indicators (attendance and achievement in mathematics and language) and another that is uncorrelated with those indicators allow a test of whether parental decisions to keep their child in school is influenced by merit-based or non-merit-based promotions. Results suggest that the enrollment decision is significantly influenced by whether learning has taken place, and that grade promotion that is uncorrelated with merit has a negligible impact on school continuation.Grade repetition; grade retention; grade promotion; enrollment; achievement; dropout; Pakistan

Post-surgical pain, physical activity and satisfaction with the decision to undergo hernia surgery : a prospective qualitative investigation

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Promotion with and without learning : effects on student enrollment and dropout behavior

Many educators and policymakers have argued for lenient grade promotion policy - even automatic promotion - in developing country settings where grade retention rates are high. The argument assumes that grade retention discourages persistence or continuation in school and that the promotion of children with lower achievement does not hamper their ability or their peers'ability to perform at the next level. Alternatively, promoting students into grades for which they are not prepared may lead to early dropout behavior. This study shows that in a sample of schools from the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan, students are promoted primarily on the basis of merit. An econometric decomposition of promotion decisions into a component that is based on merit indicators (attendance and achievement in mathematics and language) and another that is uncorrelated with those indicators allows a test of whether parental decisions to keep their child in school is influenced by merit-based or non-merit-based promotions. Results suggest that the enrollment decision is significantly influenced by whether learning has taken place, and that grade promotion that is uncorrelated with merit has a negligible impact on school continuation.Tertiary Education,Education For All,Secondary Education,Primary Education,Teaching and Learning

Student and Teacher Attendance: The Role of Shared Goods in Reducing Absenteeism

A theoretical model is advanced that demonstrates that, if teacher and student attendance generate a shared good, then teacher and student attendance will be mutually reinforcing.� Using data from the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan, empirical evidence supporting that proposition is advanced.� Controlling for the endogeneity of teacher and student attendance, the most powerful factor raising teacher attendance is the attendance of the children in the school, and the most important factor influencing child attendance is the presence of the teacher.� The results suggest that one important avenue to be explored in developing policies to reduce teacher absenteeism is to focus on raising the attendance of children.Absenteeism; teacher attendance; student attendance; shared good; Northwest Frontier Province; Pakistan

A United Kingdom survey of surgical technique and handling practice of inguinal canal structures during hernia surgery

Background: Recent trials have assessed the impact of elective nerve division on patient outcome after inguinal herniorrhaphy. The aim of this study was to establish UK surgical practice of handling of structures in the inguinal canal during herniorrhaphy. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of all Fellows (n = 1113) of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ASGBI) was performed. The main outcomes were to determine method of inguinal hernia repair and routine practice for intra-operative handling of structures in the inguinal canal. Results: A total of 852 (77%) questionnaires were returned, of which 784 (92%) surgeons performed inguinal herniorrhaphy. Approximately two-thirds (63%) of responding surgeons performed less than 50 procedures per annum and 37% conducted more than 50 procedures annually. Mesh was the preferred method used by 90% of surgeons; 6% used non-mesh, and 4% used other (laparoscopic) methods. Routine practice in relation to the inguinal structures varied by volume of hernia surgery; surgeons who conducted more than 50 procedures annually were more likely to visualize and preserve inguinal nerve structures. However, inconsistency in the answers suggested confusion over anatomy. Conclusion: This is the first UK survey to investigate method of hernia repair and usual handling practice of inguinal canal structures. There was wide acceptance of the use of mesh in inguinal hernia repair, with the majority of UK surgeons favoring an open approach. Surgeons performing high volumes of herniorrhaphy were more likely to preserve, rather than transect, inguinal nerve structures. This variation in practice may confound assessment of long-term neuralgia and other post-herniorrhaphy pain syndromes

Economic freedom, human rights, and the returns to human capital : an evaluation of the Schultz hypothesis

According to T.W. Schultz, the returns to human capital are highest in economic environments experiencing unexpected price, productivity, and technology shocks that create"disequilibria."In such environments, the ability of firms and individuals to adapt their resource allocations to shocksbecomes most valuable. In the case of negative shocks, government policies that mitigate the impact of the shock will also limit the returns to the skills of managing risk or adapting resources to changing market forces. In the case of positive shocks, government policies may restrict access to credit, labor, or financial markets in ways that limit reallocation of resources toward newly emerging profitable sectors. This paper tests the hypothesis that the returns to skills are highest in countries that allow individuals to respond to shocks. Using estimated returns to schooling and work experience from 122 household surveys in 86 developing countries, this paper demonstrates a strong positive correlation between the returns to human capital and economic freedom, an effect that is observed throughout the wage distribution. Economic freedom benefits those workers who have attained the most schooling as well as those who have accumulated the most work experience.Debt Markets,Political Economy,Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Population Policies

Darling Range rural land capability study

This report presents land resource mapping and land capability assessments for rural residential and associated agricultural activities at a scale of 1:50,000 over 100,000 ha of rural land in Perth\u27s eastern metropolitan hills area. The study area is bounded to the west by the Great Northern, Albany, Roe and South Western highways, and extends north, east and south to the boundary of the Perth metropolitan area. Using the broad framework of landform-soil associations defined by Churchward and McArthur (1980), discrete mapping units have been delineated by reference to landform and soil characteristics likely to affect future land uses. They provide a framework for land capability assessment in terms of the Western Australian Department of Agriculture\u27s five class system. Land capability assessments for specific land uses, and values for individual land qualities and characteristics, are presented for each map unit in a tabular format. This information forms the data base for the digital mapping on the Western Australian Land Information System (WALIS) Intervax 8650 computer. Because of limitations imposed by the mapping scale, the capability assessment results presented should be used primarily for regional land use planning purposes. For more detailed site specific application, on-site inspections may be required to determine whether the land use limitations indicated do occur and are of the magnitude described by the capability ratings