There is debate about whether the rate of return to education in developing countries declines with the level of schooling. This paper reports evidence from urban Papua New Guinea which shows that the average private rate of return to an additional year of education rises with the level of education considered. This pattern is robust to the…

The evidence that teachers' salaries are relatively high in less developed countries is not an indication that these salaries are "above market conditions" in these same countries. International comparisons provide a base indicator for differences across 27 countries in education costs relative to per capita income. Includes 11…

Rates of return to lower schooling levels are higher than to university education and tend to stay higher even as country develops. Examines changes in educational rates of return in South Korea during the 1970s and 1980s. The payoff to lower schooling levels declined substantially in absolute terms and relative to investing in completed four-year…

Reviews several theoretical frameworks linking level and dispersion of schooling with income inequality. None of the theoretical constructs discussed seems to generate a clear prediction concerning schooling's effect on income inequality or absolute poverty in less developed countries. The empirical evidence also appears inconclusive. Includes 38…

Using pooled data from eight U.S. censuses (primarily state-level and university county-level variables), this study finds a significant positive effect of university community size on state aggregate personal income growth. Weaker effects are found on state employment growth (positive) and state population growth (negative). States might leverage…

Investigates effect of human capital on growth in three groups of countries that exhibit significantly different levels of economic development. Findings of the cross-country data sets suggest that link between growth and education varies as a result of different levels of economic development. The role of primary and secondary education seems to…

Large rural surveys from Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Paraguay were used to examine education's role. Education has a consistently important effect that differs across countries. It is strongest in the modernizing environment context and consistently related to social differentiation, except in Guatemala. Productivity effects…

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…

Surveys research on the role of schooling and human capital in fostering productivity and economic growth. Argues that the returns to human capital are extremely large, compared with returns to most types of physical capital. Urges increased grants by international donors for investment in primary schooling. Includes 18 notes. (MLH)

Uses large-scale survey data to analyze status of vocational training among firms in Taiwan. Vocational training in Taiwan, not widely practiced, needs to be strengthened. Factors relevant to training costs, such as labor turnover rates, and factors relevant to training benefits, such as concentration ratios, labor productivity (salary), and…

Psacharopoulos has found a declining rate-of-return to education pattern across levels of per capita income, using international data. A reexamination of Psacharopoulos's cross-country data refutes his declining rate-of-return hypothesis and points to diversity of cross-country experience as a possibly significant factor in interpreting the data.…

Presents a linear programing method for estimating enrollment transition rates in countries where repetition counts are nonexistent or unreliable. This method requires minimal data and allows incorporation of limiting information from miscellaneous sources. Results confirm the suspicion that officially reported data in some countries underestimate…

Uses data from the 1985 Cote d'Ivoire Living Standards Survey to examine pay differences between teachers and other wage earners in the Ivory Coast. Results indicate that teachers' base salaries contain a rent component that disappears when the total remuneration plan is considered. Includes 20 references. (MLH)

Using UNESCO's recent data, explores effects of a country's income and "tropicality" on school life expectancy. Although income's effect is important, distance from the equator also matters. Effects of tropicality were larger in 1980 than in 1992. Implications are discussed. (13 references) (MLH)

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…