A huge increase in engineering graduates from the BRIC countries in recent decades potentially threatens the competitiveness of developed countries in producing high value-added products and services, while also holding great promise for substantially increasing the level of global basic and applied innovation. The key question is whether the…

In this paper we discuss results from an analysis of a large dataset that includes virtually all sixth-grade students in Uruguay in 1996. We analyze the relationship between teacher attributes and student achievement scores and we explore the distribution of teachers according to characteristics identified as important by this analysis. We find…

In this publication, the authors compare the salaries of primary (Grades 1 to 6 in most countries) and secondary school (usually Grades 7 to 12) teachers with the salaries of people in mathematics-oriented professions, such as engineering, scientific fields, and accounting. Their analysis centers on a number of developed and developing countries.…

While the overall change in Cuban education came about because of the revolution, expansion took place in several stages, each largely a function of the economic development policy being followed at the time. In the period up to 1964 when Cuba thought it could industrialize under the Soviet model it concentrated on developing basic education for…

This study uses rich empirical data from Brazil to assess how a government program (PDE) that decentralizes school management decisions changes what goes on in schools and how these changes affect student outcomes. It appears that the PDE resulted in some improvements in management and learning materials, but little change in other areas including…

Explores how international institutions such as the World Bank influence educational policy in developing nations. Concludes that the major, if sometimes unintentional, influence of international agencies in educational change is to finance those educational programs that favor dominant upper classes at the expense of the poor. (DB)

Argues that economic constraints for educational planners and the political/ideological context in which educational decisions are made have changed despite the demand for educational expansion with reduced spending. Suggests development of new strategies to increase public spending and improve educational quality. (Author/TRS)

The role of education as an agent for income redistribution in developing countries is discussed. A study of Brazil, Peru, and Mexico indicates that education may not influence income distribution as much as government policies that differentially reward schooling level, work sectors, occupation types, and region of residence. (BC)

In the 1960s and 1970s, steady economic growth helped the Costa Rican government expand its education system rapidly. The 1979 oil shocks, the U.S. 1981-82 recession, and other factors ended this prosperity and exposed the fragility of Costa Rica's late 1970s debt-financed development. To restore economic growth, new economic policies were…

This methodological paper concentrates on the role of education in meeting employment objectives in developing cities. Section 1 reviews briefly main results of the significant amount of existing basic research on the issue of education and employment. The second section then briefly reviews policy-oriented documentation to answer the question,…

The most important educational process takes place outside of formal schooling. A development process which demands participation of the masses increases participation in acquisition of knowledge, particularly in the possibility of acquiring knowledge. Radical transformation in the relationship between production and power is required for mass…

The study reviews orthodox theories of labor markets, presents new formulations of segmentation theory, and provides empirical tests of segmentation in the United States and several developing nations. Orthodox labor market theory views labor as being paid for its contribution to production and that investment in education and vocational training…

U.S. and European models of delivering secondary education were examined to identify ways of improving Latin American and Caribbean secondary schools and easing Latin American and Caribbean students' transition from school to work. The following delivery options were considered: (1) separate job training from formal secondary education; (2) move…