Early school dropouts in developing countries: An integer approach to guide intervention. The case of Uruguay

Are early leavers from the education system irrational or ill informed? They might be, but this approach shows that with underperforming education sectors – typical in developing countries – early dropout may be perfectly rational and well informed, even in the absence of liquidity constraints. This paper provides an integer approach to guide intervention in developing countries, though there are no clear-cut policies. Long-term measures should be aimed at improving the productivity of the activity, for instance by improving teaching processes, qualification of human resources and organization of schools. Also, less costly measures targeting subjective factors like motivation might be as effective.