This paper tests the hypothesis that World Bank education projects have a higher likelihood of being successful if at the time of appraisal, they underwent good quality economic analysis. Analysis shows a strong relationship between the quality of cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis and the quality of project outcomes. Economic analysis of projects is a tool for weeding out potentially poor investments and selecting potentially worthwhile ones. Good practice education projects require good economic analysis--analysis of demand, of the counterfactual private sector supply, of the project's fiscal impact, of lending's fungibility--and strong sector work before project design.