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LEO 2011. Education points George Psacharopoulos gpsach@rcn.com. Illustrative statistics. To what class do they really relate? Middle? Upper? Lower?. Development Indicators, 2009 The World Bank. LAC, female 15-24 unemployment 21%
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LEO 2011 Education points George Psacharopoulos gpsach@rcn.com
Illustrative statistics To what class do they really relate? • Middle? • Upper? • Lower?
Development Indicators, 2009The World Bank • LAC, female 15-24 unemployment 21% • LAC, population under $2/day 17% Gini: • Brazil .55 • Chile .52 • Ecuador .54
LAC, Child labor, boys 7-14 • Peru 26% • Bolivia 24% Primary school completion • Nicaragua, boys 70%
Question What is the analytical usefulness of class categorization in defining policy to solve the above problems???
Middle class focus? • Descriptive rather than analytical • Elastic • Categorical rather than continuous • End up with real variables • Tautology rather than cause-effect • Circularity • Policy relevance?
Better focus on lower class? • Design policies to upgrade to middle class • Invest in preschool – Highest social returns • (Lack of incidence studies) • Reallocate public education expenditure from the middle to the lower class • Selective cost recovery in higher education • Tuition fees for the rich cum subsidies for the poor • Expand student loans – Efficient, equitable
Education returns and the cycle (%) Returns to education 10 Economic growth 2010 1965
LEO 2012+ Education!