Student achievement and schooling choice in low-income countries: evidence from Ghana
TL;DR: This article presented new evidence on the impact of school characteristics on student achievement using an unusually rich data set from Ghana, showing that repairing classrooms is a cost-effective investment in Ghana, relative to providing more instructional materials and improving teacher quality.
Abstract: In this paper we present new evidence on the impact of school characteristics on student achievement using an unusually rich data set from Ghana. We deal with two potentially important selectivity issues in the developing country context: the sorting of higher ability children into better schools, and the high incidence of both delayed school enrollment and early leaving. Our empirical results do not reveal any strong selectivity bias. We also highlight the indirect effects of improving school quality on student achievement through increased grade attainment. A cost-benefit analysis, taking into account these indirect effects, shows that repairing classrooms (a policy option ignored in most education production function studies) is a cost-effective investment in Ghana, relative to providing more instructional materials and improving teacher quality.
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TL;DR: A literature review focusing on education and health in its examination of the role that households and families play in choosing how to invest the human capital of their members is presented in this paper.
Abstract: This literature review focuses on education and health in its examination of the role that households and families play in choosing how to invest the human capital of their members. The introductory section describes the history of the development of economic models of the household and reviews how theoretical developments have become linked with data collection. The second section of the report looks at the effects of income on nutritional status and the reverse influence of nutrition (health) on labor productivity (income). Despite the controversies existing in the literature and the difficulties in choosing among the array of solutions to defined problems there is little doubt that investments in education and health enhance productivity fertility child health and child educational attainment. In an attempt to shed light on the underlying mechanisms in these relationships Section 3 focuses on the estimation of reduced form demands for human capital and considers the measurement of human capital; the effects of determinants such as education household resources and community resources; endogenous program placement and selective migration; and the possible estimation bias imposed by fertility and mortality selection. Section 4 continues this investigation by considering the process underlying the production of human capital in terms of the empirical issues involved in estimation of static and dynamic production functions as well as applications to child health and applications to educational attainment. Section 5 relates labor productivity to education and considers data issues the functional form of studies ability family background and school quality. Recent developments in modeling household behavior in a dynamic setting are reviewed in Section 6 and Section 7 describes links among individuals households and families. The concluding section notes that continued integration of survey data collection with theoretical frameworks will lead to a substantial improvement in our understanding of the magnitude of the significance of the effects predicted by the theory.
1,297Â citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the traditional approach to providing quality-simply providing more inputs-is frequently ineffective and that existing inefficiencies are likely to be alleviated only by the introduction of substantially stronger performance incentives in schools and by more extensive experimentation and evaluation of educational programs and school organizations.
Abstract: Policymakers in developing countries have long been troubled by the undesirable, but apparently unavoidable, choice between providing broad access to education and developing high-quality schools. Recent evidence, however, suggests that this is a bad way to think about human capital development. Grader repetition and high dropout rates lead to a significant waste of resources in many school systems. Students in quality schools, however, respond in ways that reduce such inefficiencies, perhaps even sufficiently to recoup immediately investments in quality. Promoting high-quality schools, however, is more difficult than many have thought, in part because research demonstrates that the traditional approach to providing quality-simply providing more inputs-is frequently ineffective. Existing inefficiencies are likely to be alleviated only by the introduction of substantially stronger performance incentives in schools and by more extensive experimentation and evaluation of educational programs and school organizations. Incentives, decentralized decision making, and evaluation are alien terms to education, in both industrial and developing countries, but they hold the key to improvement that has eluded policymakers pursuing traditional practices.
712Â citations
Book•
17 May 2010TL;DR: Ordered choice models provide a relevant methodology for capturing the sources of influence that explain the choice made amongst a set of ordered alternatives as discussed by the authors, and have evolved to a level of sophistication that can allow for heterogeneity in the threshold parameters, in the explanatory variables (through random parameters), and in the decomposition of the residual variance.
Abstract: It is increasingly common for analysts to seek out the opinions of individuals and organizations using attitudinal scales such as degree of satisfaction or importance attached to an issue Examples include levels of obesity, seriousness of a health condition, attitudes towards service levels, opinions on products, voting intentions, and the degree of clarity of contracts Ordered choice models provide a relevant methodology for capturing the sources of influence that explain the choice made amongst a set of ordered alternatives The methods have evolved to a level of sophistication that can allow for heterogeneity in the threshold parameters, in the explanatory variables (through random parameters), and in the decomposition of the residual variance This book brings together contributions in ordered choice modeling from a number of disciplines, synthesizing developments over the last fifty years, and suggests useful extensions to account for the wide range of sources of influence on choice
691Â citations
TL;DR: This article reviewed recent research on the determinants of educational outcomes and the impact of those outcomes on other socioeconomic phenomena, and addressed three questions: 1) What schifts are the sch...
Abstract: This paper reviews recent research on the determinants of educational outcomes, and the impact of those outcomes on other socioeconomic phenomena. It addresses three questions: 1) What sch...
565Â citations
01 Sep 2001
482Â citations
References
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01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a survey of the use of truncated distributions in the context of unions and wages, and some results on truncated distribution Bibliography Index and references therein.
Abstract: Preface 1. Introduction 2. Discrete regression models 3. Probabilistic-choice models 4. Discriminant analysis 5. Multivariate qualitative variables 6. Censored and truncated regression models 7. Simultaneous-equations models with truncated and censored variables 8. Two-stage estimation methods 9. Models with self-selectivity 10. Disequilibrium models 11. Some applications: unions and wages Appendix: Some results on truncated distributions Bibliography Index.
13,828Â citations
1,561Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, a test of weak exogeneity in the simultaneous equation Tobit model is proposed and illustrated using a female labour supply model estimated using cross-section data, which can be simply output from any standard Tobit maximum likelihood package, and is asymptotically efficient.
Abstract: A test of weak exogeneity in the simultaneous equation Tobit model is proposed and illustrated using a female labour supply model estimated using cross-section data. The test statistic can be simply output from any standard Tobit maximum likelihood package, and is asymptotically efficient. The procedure provides consistent estimators for the simultaneous Tobit model whose asymptotic covariance matrix is a simple extension of the usual Tobit formula. We also provide the Lagrange Multiplier test of weak exogeneity. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
1,275Â citations
Book•
23 Jul 1992
TL;DR: In this paper, the EDURURAL project was used to evaluate the performance of primary schools in rural northeast Brazil and showed that improving the quality of schools could lead to gains in efficiency that more than offset the direct costs of the improvements.
Abstract: Education policy in developing countries is often expressed as a tradeoff between quality of schools and equity of access by students. The analysis behind this book demonstrates that such a distinction may be artificial. The research, which emerged from an effort to improve educational performance in rural northeast Brazil, shows that improving the quality of schools could lead to gains in efficiency that more than offset the direct costs of the improvements. Through the cost savings they generate, quality improvements can also increase equity of access. This quantitative assessment of eduational performance and school promotion in primary schools is unique in its ability to address directly a range of important policy concerns facing developing countries. The study relies on longitudinal data collected over seven years to evaluate the EDURURAL project, an educational intervention by the Brazilian government supported by the World Bank. The extensive data base permits more precise analysis of the underlying determinants of student achievement and promotion than was previously possible. The study includes a standard investigation of teachers and resources. In addition it examines the relationships between both achievement and promotion and student health and promotion and considers the likely effects of differences in teachers' skills and knowledge of subject matter.
395Â citations
Book•
27 Sep 1990
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate how the expansion of the educational system affects productivity and the growth and distribution of income in Kenya and Tanzania, and investigate the effects of country differences in the quantity and quality education on output.
Abstract: Drawing on the experiences of Kenya and Tanzania, investigates how the expansion of the educational system affects productivity and the growth and distribution of income. Explains that Kenya and Tanzania, with their similar colonial background, natural resources, and economic structure, but markedly divergent educational policies, constitute a "natural experiment." Obtains measures of both reasoning ability and cognitive skill from surveys of representative samples of urban wage employees, allowing the development of a model to evaluate the human capital, screening, and credentialist interpretations of the link between educational attainment and earnings. Evaluates competing explanations for the steeper earnings-experience profile of the more educated. Estimates the effects of country differences in the quantity and quality education on output. Analyzes occupation as an important intermediary between education and earnings. Isolates the effect that institutional intervention by the government has on the wage structure. Measures the responsiveness of the wages of secondary and primary leavers to changes in their relative supply. Examines how levels of inequality change in response to changes in the composition of the workforce that result from educational expansion. Considers the equality of the distribution of school places in Kenya and Tanzania. Explores whether the expansion of secondary enrollment in Kenya, and the contrasting situation in Tanzania, have affected the degree of intergenerational mobility and the process of class formation. Examines methodological and policy issues in the cost-benefit analysis and in the financing of secondary education. Considers the implications of the findings for future research and the extent to which the results can be generalized to other countries and situations. A companion volume, Education, Work and Pay in East Africa, describes the economies and education systems of Kenya and Tanzania, and contains an annotated set of cross-tabulations and other summary statistics based on East African surveys. Knight is a Senior member of the research staff at the Institute of Economics and Statistics. Sabot is Professor of Economics at Williams College. Index.
272Â citations