School Resources and Educational Outcomes in Developing Countries: A Review of the Literature from 1990 to 2010

Developing countries spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year on schools, educational materials and teachers, but relatively little is known about how effective these expenditures are at increasing students’ years of completed schooling and, more importantly, the skills that they learn while in school. This paper examines studies published between 1990 and 2010, in both the education literature and the economics literature, to investigate which specific school and teacher characteristics, if any, appear to have strong positive impacts on learning and time in school. Starting with over 9,000 studies, 79 are selected as being of sufficient quality. Then an even higher bar is set in terms of econometric methods used, leaving 43 “high quality” studies. Finally, results are also shown separately for 13 randomized trials. The estimated impacts on time in school and learning of most school and teacher characteristics are statistically insignificant, especially when the evidence is limited to the “high quality” studies. The few variables that do have significant effects – e.g. availability of desks, teacher knowledge of the subjects they teach, and teacher absence – are not particularly surprising and thus provide little guidance for future policies and programs.

Benefits and Costs of Electronic Medical Records: The Experience of Mexico's Social Security Institute

Electronic medical record (EMR) systems are increasingly used in developing countries to improve quality of care while increasing efficiency. There is little systematic evidence, however, regarding EMRs' benefits and costs. This case study documents the implementation and use of an EMR system at the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS). Three EMR systems are now in operation for primary care, outpatient and inpatient hospital care. The evidence suggests that the primary care system has improved efficiency of care delivery and human resources management, and may have decreased incidence of fraud. The hospital systems, however, have lower coverage and are less popular among staff. The greater success of the primary care system may be due to greater investment, a participatory development process, an open workplace culture, and software appropriately tailored to the workflow. Moving forward, efforts should be made to exploit data housed in EMRs for medical and policy research

Benefits and Costs of Electronic Medical Records: The Experience of Mexico's Social Security Institute

Electronic medical record (EMR) systems are increasingly used in developing countries to improve quality of care while increasing efficiency. There is little systematic evidence, however, regarding EMRs' benefits and costs. This case study documents the implementation and use of an EMR system at the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS). Three EMR systems are now in operation for primary care, outpatient and inpatient hospital care. The evidence suggests that the primary care system has improved efficiency of care delivery and human resources management, and may have decreased incidence of fraud. The hospital systems, however, have lower coverage and are less popular among staff. The greater success of the primary care system may be due to greater investment, a participatory development process, an open workplace culture, and software appropriately tailored to the workflow. Moving forward, efforts should be made to exploit data housed in EMRs for medical and policy research

When Are Field Experiments with Individual Assignment Too Risky?: Lessons from a Center-Based Child Care Study in Guatemala

Randomized controlled trials, prized for generating unbiased estimates of treatment effects, have become popular in development economics. However, RCTs do not always offer sufficient statistical power, which is reduced in experiments with imperfect compliance to treatment assignment. This is of critical importance if effect sizes are modest, and if non-compliance may occur. Both are likely in experiments in center-based childcare programs with individual-level randomization for several reasons. Dropout in the treatment group may occur because families' demand for preschool is unknown when the sample is constructed, and it evolves over time as households experience shocks and as they learn about the center. Non-compliance in the control group arises when children access the program or alternative preschool programs. This paper uses a recent evaluation of the Hogares Comunitarios program in Guatemala to illustrate challenges inherent in experimental evaluations and offers strategies to identify situations in which studies are more likely to succeed.

School Resources and Educational Outcomes In Developing Countries : A Review of The Literature from 1990 To 2010

Developing countries spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year on schools, educational materials and teachers, but relatively little is known about how effective these expenditures are at increasing students’ years of completed schooling and, more importantly, the skills that they learn while in school. This paper examines studies published between 1990 and 2010, in both the education literature and the economics literature, to investigate which specific school and teacher characteristics, if any, appear to have strong positive impacts on learning and time in school. Starting with over 9,000 studies, 79 are selected as being of sufficient quality. Then an even higher bar is set in terms of econometric methods used, leaving 43 “high quality” studies. Finally, results are also shown separately for 13 randomized trials. The estimated impacts on time in school and learning of most school and teacher characteristics are statistically insignificant, especially when the evidence is limited to the “high quality” studies. The few variables that do have significant effects – e.g. availability of desks, teacher knowledge of the subjects they teach, and teacher absence – are not particularly surprising and thus provide little guidance for future policies and programs