The economics of growth has come a long way since it regained center stage for economists in the mid-1980s. Here for the first time is a series of country studies guided by that research. The thirteen essays, by leading economists, shed light on some of the most important growth puzzles of our time. How did China grow so rapidly despite the absence of full-fledged private property rights? What happened in India after the early 1980s to more than double its growth rate? How did Botswana and Mauritius avoid the problems that other countries in sub--Saharan Africa succumbed to? How did Indonesia manage to grow over three decades despite weak institutions and distorted microeconomic policies and why did it suffer such a collapse after 1997?

	What emerges from this collective effort is a deeper understanding of the centrality of institutions. Economies that have performed well over the long term owe their success not to geography or trade, but to institutions that have generated market-oriented incentives, protected property rights, and enabled stability. However, these narratives warn against a cookie-cutter approach to institution building.

	The contributors are Daron Acemoglu, Maite Careaga, Gregory Clark, J. Bradford DeLong, Georges de Menil, William Easterly, Ricardo Hausmann, Simon Johnson, Daniel Kaufmann, Massimo Mastruzzi, Ian W. McLean, Lant Pritchett, Yingyi Qian, James A. Robinson, Devesh Roy, Arvind Subramanian, Alan M. Taylor, Jonathan Temple, Barry R. Weingast, Susan Wolcott, and Diego Zavaleta.

In Search of Prosperity: Analytic Narratives on Economic Growth

This study began as an update of promising practices in teacher education programs that have been particularly successful in enhancing student learning in their own context. Along the way of undertaking case studies, the study expanded to include the impact of teacher education on children's learning; effective teaching; trends in teacher development from around the world; recruitment and retention of teachers; incentives; and evaluation, supervision, and management, including cost-related issues. Some of the ideas are drawn from the case studies. Other ideas come from additional research literature. Key findings include: 1) Teacher education can make a difference to student achievement. 2) Teachers need to be actively involved in the change process. 3) Teacher development is about ongoing professional growth and support. 4) Teacher development is a process along a continuum of learning. 5) Alternative teacher education programs should be considered. 6) It is important to create conditions that lead to sustainability. The study also recommends fundamental changes in: system support, ongoing professional development in the early years, and ongoing professional development in the years after initial preparation.

Teacher development : making an impact

The article explores the effect of primary school access, type (public vs. private), and quality on parents’ decision to enroll their children in rural Pakistan using a 1997 survey. The authors find that, for girls, living in a village with an all‐girls’ public school makes a significant difference in the likelihood of enrollment. The quality of the girls’ school is also a significant factor influencing parents’ decision to enroll their girls. Boys’ overall levels of enrollment are unaffected by access and quality; parents, however, are more likely to select private schooling for their boys and girls when a private school is locally available. In contrast to earlier findings for urban Pakistan, we do not find that a greater availability of private school alternatives would significantly increase overall primary school enrollment; instead, it would primarily affect the distribution of enrollment between the private and public sector.

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The Effect of Gender Differences in Primary School Access, Type, and Quality on the Decision to Enroll in Rural Pakistan

The Education for All (EFA) movement, launched in 1990, has resulted in an extraordinary mobilization of World Bank and country resources in support of basic education over the past 15 years. World Bank EFA financing, mostly focused on primary education, has become increasingly progressive, targeting the most disadvantaged countries and often the disadvantaged within countries. Over the years of Bank support for EFA and its world conferences in 1990 and 2000, the Bank's policy objectives for increased support to primary education have been simple and remarkably stable: universal primary school completion, equality of access for girls and other disadvantaged groups, and improved student learning outcomes. This Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) evaluation assesses the extent to which these objectives have been met in countries supported by the Bank. and it provide lessons for countries in their development strategies and for the Bank in its support to those strategies.

From Schooling Access to Learning Outcomes: An Unfinished Agenda: An Evaluation of World Bank Support to Primary Education

Reform in teaching and learning forms one of the basic dimensions of educational reform. This study explores the impact of the reform process on teacher thinking and classroom practice in the multi-donor supported District Primary Education Project in Karnataka, India. Using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, a variety of aspects dealing with teaching and learning are examined in order to understand the extent to which changes are taking place in the classroom. The study analyses the impact of four cultural constructs, which frame teaching and learning in India: holism as a shared worldview that encourages openness to regulation; the hierarchical structure as a regulative social framework; knowledge as discovered and attested collectively; and the 'sense of duty' that defines the role of the teacher (and student). The conclusion of the study is that while there are observable changes in the classroom in the use of instructional aids and activities during instruction, the essential characteri...

http://birbhum.nic.in/DPSC/reference/1.PDF

Culture and Classroom Reform: the case of the District Primary Education Project, India

Primary Schools in Pakistan Students: Enrollment, Achievement, and Completion Teachers: Supply, Morale, and Quality Teacher Training: Value Added or Money Wasted? Gender and Achievement School Buildings, Textbooks, and Supplies School Organization: Administration, Management, or Leadership? Explaining Student Achievement Educational Innovations: Cases and Lessons From Failure to Success Index

Nita Kumar

Papers

Girls' Schooling, Women's Autonomy and Fertility Change in South Asia@@@Hope or Despair? Learning in Pakistan's Primary Schools

Delhi through the ages : essays in urban history, culture, and society

Gods on Earth: The Management of Religious Experience and Identity in a North Indian Pilgrimage Centre. PETER VAN DER VEER