A model organized around the predominance of specific commodities at different times is used in a case study of the sequence of extractive export economies in the Amazon basin from the colonial period to the present. Such a model highlights the differences between extractive and productive economies. (Author/IS)

Eleven theme articles focus on serving rural youth in the International Youth Year and describe vocational agricultural education in developing nations, new models for international agricultural education, and goals and objectives of the Association for International Agricultural Education. (SK)

Earnings functions have been widely used to estimate the returns to education and training. Many studies have relied on the Mincerian specification for the earnings function, which embodies several assumptions. A study of Brazilian workers' wages finds that the Mincerian specification yields upwardly biased estimates of the returns to education,…

Describes a study in which the textbooks and specialized periodicals in information science used by 26 Brazilian library schools were grouped by 39 course topics and evaluated by various criteria. A methodology for identifying gaps in coverage by the available instructional materials and establishing priorities for production is presented. (8…

A Latin American Educator responds to three challenging social questions: How essential is the university in the development process? What are the strengths and weaknesses of technology transfer? How ready are developing societies to absorb higher technical literacy?

Describes a Brazilian project that aimed to improve the standard of science education in primary public schools through computer assisted learning. A neural network to analyze models is presented that was used with students 11 to 18 years old for topics on local environmental problems. (Author/LRW)

Lays out a framework in which microeconomic decision theory and elements of information/communication theory drawn from human geography and sociology are joined in an integrated approach to the analysis of the spread of schooling among the less developed countries. Tests the model on area variations in India, Brazil, and Mexico. (BRR)

This document is the second in a series of three documents, which together contain 27 case studies on the uses of cost analysis in educational planning. The case studies are presented to help planners and administrators see how cost analysis can be used to improve the efficiency of their educational systems, or to get the best value existing…