The neo-classical "human capital theory" continues to be invoked as part of the rationale for educational expansion in the developing world. While the theory provides a route from educational inputs to economic outputs in terms of increased incomes and standards of living, the route is contingent and relies upon a number of key…

This paper shows how household data collected for the Ghana Living Standards Survey can be used to calculate national trends in educational performance (enrollment, completion rates and literacy). The resulting enrollment figures are shown to be more reliable than the rather different picture given by official statistics. In addition, a short…