Disputes claims that private education is highly selective and unaffordable. Examines extent of private expenditure on education in Bolivia, a very poor country whose public education system is characterized by low teacher salaries, unqualified teachers, few textbooks, and high dropout and repetition rates. Using 1990 and 1992 household survey…

Presents a taxonomy of research areas in educational economics and outlines key topics deserving more research attention. Emphasizes documenting the unit cost of education at different schooling levels and curriculum types, along with learning and earning schooling outcomes. Topics needing further research include the screening hypothesis,…

Uses household survey data from 12 Latin American countries to assess how teacher salaries compare to other workers' salaries. Results show great variability from one country to another. When statistical controls are introduced for the differential education, hours worked, and gender composition, the earnings differential between the two groups…

Nancy Birdsall's argument for cost recovery in university education is misleading. It is hard to allocate money only to research, since a university's research and teaching functions are interconnected. Increased resources for higher education would come from a government's education budget at the expense of primary education. In a typical…

An evaluation of the effects on employment of a new type of secondary school in Colombia offering prevocational subjects alongside the traditional curriculum is based on a follow-up survey of about 1,800 graduates three years after leaving school. Earnings differences between the two types of schools are slight. (Author/MLF)

Examines various education-related aspects of Venezuela's labor market for 1975-1984, using a sample of 40,000 workers. Education returns have declined only two percent during a rapid educational expansion period. The increased supply of educated persons influenced the narrowing of earnings differentials and led to more equitable income…

Using data from the 1985 Buenos Aires (Argentina) Household Survey of 4,500 employed individuals, earnings differences are explained by a set of individual human capital characteristics. Returns to education investments are then estimated for different levels and types of schooling. Secondary and higher education investments need to be retargeted.…

Presents evidence concerning the rate of return to investment in education in 32 countries. The emerging pattern shows declining returns through time, viewed in the context of alternative theories about the education-earnings relationship. The evidence supports a human capital model and continued expansion of education in developing countries.…

Refutes the argument for diversifying the secondary school curriculum in developing countries to produce a closer fit between education and the world of work. A followup study of Colombian secondary school graduates of diversified and non-diversified schools discloses no external positive efficiency effects on such curricular innovation. Includes…

Uses 1990 Household Survey data for Paraguay to analyze the education-earnings relationship. Human capital characteristics account for about 40% of individual earnings variance; each extra year of schooling yields a private return rate of 11.5%. Social and private return rates are highest for primary education, followed by secondary education.…

Uses data from Venezuela's 1987 Household Survey to update returns to education and compare them to 1975 and 1984 figures. Returns to education have been maintained despite the educational explosion occurring in Venezuela during the period investigated. Although higher education is most heavily subsidized, primary education remains the most…

Uses data from 1989 Uruguayan Household Survey to investigate earnings/education relationship. Mincerian earnings functions fitted to nearly 10,000 workers reveal a 9.2% private return rate for each extra year of schooling. Females realize a full percentage point over males; private sector employees enjoy a 5 percentage point advantage over public…

Uses data from the 1989 Venezuelan Household Survey to assess macropriorities among educational investment in that country. An earnings analysis by educational level reveals persisting, if declining, advantages for the more educated. The cost-benefit analysis indicates that primary education yields the highest returns, whereas higher education…

Uses data from the 1987 Household Survey to explore the relationship between educating and earnings in Ecuador. Results indicate a sharp difference in the premium associated with higher education between males and females (favoring males). Those with primary education are rewarded relatively more in the public than the private sector. Includes 14…