Social expenditures in Taiwan (China) accelerated during recent decades, in accordance with economic development, social transformation, and democratization. Among the various categories of expenditure, education spending received the highest priority, and continues to do so up to this day....

In Europe, and Central Asia, the poor faces three problems: 1) the education system as a whole does not work well, and hence fails to meet adequately their needs; 2) the private cost of education has gone up, so that "education", as a commodity, competes with other consumption goods in shrinking...