8. Education and Development (A. Guariso)
Questions:
- What do you think is the current share of literate adults (15 years and older) across the globe?
- What do you think is the average primary school enrollment across the globe?
- On a random school day, what do you think is the share of teachers that is actually present in school in
Mozambique?
- What do you think is the share of students completing primary school (5 years) in India that is able to
complete subtractions and read a short story (expected to be achieved by 2 nd year of primary school)?
See answers in stylized facts
Reading list: need to know for the exam!
1. General introduction
My research focuses on Development Economics, and I am currently working on addressing questions such as:
1. How can we reduce child mortality in rural Uganda?
Evaluation of an innovative Community Health Worker program with financial incentives for
the health workers
2. How can learning outcomes for primary school children in rural India be improved?
Evaluation of a new in-school pedagogical program that re-groups children by actual
knowledge rather than age and grade
Evaluation of a new community-based out-of-school study group
3. How can economic and social integration between refugees and host communities in Niger be
fostered?
Evaluation of a cash transfer program to support new economic activities
In my own research I use a mix of experimental approach (all the previous examples) and non-experimental
approach
- How does ethnicity affect trade patterns across the African continent?
- How does the distribution of resources across ethnic groups affect the risk of ethnic conflicts across
Africa?
- Women political representation and its impact in Uganda
- ...and more recently: what are the consequences of the current pandemic on child health care and
educational attainments?
In these two lectures we are going to study how one can rigorously address these types of questions within the
field of education.
, 2. Introduction
One of the most popular topics in development: Education
Policy relevance:
- In many developing countries, education spending is the largest single recurrent budget expenditure
(up to 30%).
- High priority in policy circles (MDGs, SDGs...).
One of the largest and richest empirical literatures in all of economics (including development).
Why so important?:
- Macro-perspective: Y = f (A,K,L): growth is determined by physical capital, human capital (education)
and technology.
Education growth
Can help explaining GDP differences
- Micro-perspective:
Increases productivity and income
Signal of ability
Intrinsic value (consumption good)
Returns to education not only private:
- Associated with adoption of new technologies and better practices (agriculture, health...)
- Productivity spillovers
- Better functioning democracy
- Less crime
- ⇒ Risk of socially suboptimal investments if there are positive externalities
So, how can we deliver education effectively?
Before digging into the literature, let’s look at some stylized facts
- Mostly taken from Our World in Data
- Not all measures regularly updated
, 3. Stylized Facts (= general trends that we can observe in the data)
Richer countries have higher average student test scores:
- Positive relationship: richer have higher average students test scores
- Learning and income are positively correlated between countries!
Employment rates higher among adults with advanced education degrees:
- X-axis: tertiary education, y-axis: upper-secondary education
- Positive correlation between learnings and employment.
- 45°-line: all the dots are below so the individuals which tertiary education are much more likely to be
employed that those who have upper-secondary education.
- 1 exception: Saudi Arabia because women are not working (lower women employment & women are
much more educated than man).
, People with more education have higher earnings when they are employed:
- In % how much more you earn if you have a higher education (tertiary)
- On average for the OECD, there is an increase of 155%. So if you have tertiary education, you earn
155% more compared to someone of similar age that only has upper-secondary education.
- There is a correlation between education and earnings!
Education associated with improvements on other dimensions:
- Correlation between education and health outcomes
- Countries that have higher education levels, have lower child mortality.
- All the lines are downward sloping: clear negative trend!
Questions:
- What do you think is the current share of literate adults (15 years and older) across the globe?
- What do you think is the average primary school enrollment across the globe?
- On a random school day, what do you think is the share of teachers that is actually present in school in
Mozambique?
- What do you think is the share of students completing primary school (5 years) in India that is able to
complete subtractions and read a short story (expected to be achieved by 2 nd year of primary school)?
See answers in stylized facts
Reading list: need to know for the exam!
1. General introduction
My research focuses on Development Economics, and I am currently working on addressing questions such as:
1. How can we reduce child mortality in rural Uganda?
Evaluation of an innovative Community Health Worker program with financial incentives for
the health workers
2. How can learning outcomes for primary school children in rural India be improved?
Evaluation of a new in-school pedagogical program that re-groups children by actual
knowledge rather than age and grade
Evaluation of a new community-based out-of-school study group
3. How can economic and social integration between refugees and host communities in Niger be
fostered?
Evaluation of a cash transfer program to support new economic activities
In my own research I use a mix of experimental approach (all the previous examples) and non-experimental
approach
- How does ethnicity affect trade patterns across the African continent?
- How does the distribution of resources across ethnic groups affect the risk of ethnic conflicts across
Africa?
- Women political representation and its impact in Uganda
- ...and more recently: what are the consequences of the current pandemic on child health care and
educational attainments?
In these two lectures we are going to study how one can rigorously address these types of questions within the
field of education.
, 2. Introduction
One of the most popular topics in development: Education
Policy relevance:
- In many developing countries, education spending is the largest single recurrent budget expenditure
(up to 30%).
- High priority in policy circles (MDGs, SDGs...).
One of the largest and richest empirical literatures in all of economics (including development).
Why so important?:
- Macro-perspective: Y = f (A,K,L): growth is determined by physical capital, human capital (education)
and technology.
Education growth
Can help explaining GDP differences
- Micro-perspective:
Increases productivity and income
Signal of ability
Intrinsic value (consumption good)
Returns to education not only private:
- Associated with adoption of new technologies and better practices (agriculture, health...)
- Productivity spillovers
- Better functioning democracy
- Less crime
- ⇒ Risk of socially suboptimal investments if there are positive externalities
So, how can we deliver education effectively?
Before digging into the literature, let’s look at some stylized facts
- Mostly taken from Our World in Data
- Not all measures regularly updated
, 3. Stylized Facts (= general trends that we can observe in the data)
Richer countries have higher average student test scores:
- Positive relationship: richer have higher average students test scores
- Learning and income are positively correlated between countries!
Employment rates higher among adults with advanced education degrees:
- X-axis: tertiary education, y-axis: upper-secondary education
- Positive correlation between learnings and employment.
- 45°-line: all the dots are below so the individuals which tertiary education are much more likely to be
employed that those who have upper-secondary education.
- 1 exception: Saudi Arabia because women are not working (lower women employment & women are
much more educated than man).
, People with more education have higher earnings when they are employed:
- In % how much more you earn if you have a higher education (tertiary)
- On average for the OECD, there is an increase of 155%. So if you have tertiary education, you earn
155% more compared to someone of similar age that only has upper-secondary education.
- There is a correlation between education and earnings!
Education associated with improvements on other dimensions:
- Correlation between education and health outcomes
- Countries that have higher education levels, have lower child mortality.
- All the lines are downward sloping: clear negative trend!
