While there is extensive knowledge about how to design fiscal decentralization policies, considerably less is understood about how a decentralization program should be sequenced and implemented. Countries embarking on decentralization often struggle with decisions about the essential components...

The authors document the vast expansion of schooling over the past several decades, as well as convergence in schooling measures across countries. They make the observation that poor countries today have higher average education levels than countries at the same level of economic development had...

While there is extensive knowledge about how to design fiscal decentralization policies, considerably less is understood about how a decentralization program should be sequenced and implemented. Countries embarking on decentralization often struggle with decisions about the essential components...

The authors present an empirical analysis of intergenerational links in nonfarm participation with a focus on gender effects. Using survey data from Nepal, the evidence shows that the mother exerts a strong influence on a daughter's employment choice. Having a mother in a nonfarm sector raises a...

The author analyzes decentralization reforms in the education sector in Latin America (their status, impact, and ongoing challenges) by making use of the accountability framework developed by the World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. She starts by identifying three...

The authors analyze how education contributes to savings. There are many reasons to believe that education and savings may be linked, either positively or negatively. It is generally expected that people with higher education will earn greater income, thereby leading to higher savings, even if...

According to a theoretical model, school autonomy and parental participation in schools, can increase student learning through separate channels. Greater school autonomy increases the rent that can be distributed among stakeholders in the school, while institutions for parental participation...

How should lifelong learning be financed? The author attempts to answer the question by creating a framework for analyzing different education financing mechanisms in light of particular characteristics of lifelong learning. The framework compares the different financing alternatives on four...

Preliminary evidence suggests that the rates of return to education in Venezuela have been declining since the 1970s. The authors rigorously estimate the returns to education in Venezuela for the period 1992-2002, and link them to earlier available estimates from the 1980s. They use consistent...

Returns to investment in education based on human capital theory have been estimated since the late 1950s. In the 40-plus year history of estimates of returns to investment in education, there have been several reviews of the empirical results in attempts to establish patterns. Many more...