The Economics of School Quality Investments in Developing Countries : An Empirical Study of Ghana

This book presents a method to estimate the economic returns to investments in school quality. While economists have long had methods to estimate rates of return to additional years of schooling, until now there has been no method for analyzing returns to investments in school quality. This is regrettable, because many, if not most, government education policies focus on school quality. Empirical work using data from Ghana shows that investments in school quality have higher rates of return than investments in increased years in schooling. The bulk of the study is written by Paul Glewwe, with some coauthored and contributed pieces from his co-researchers Jaikishan Desai, Dean Jolliffe, Raylynn Oliver and Wim Vijverberg, who worked as research assistants on this project. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Measuring the Returns to Investments in Education: Overview and Critique....Pages 3-16 A New Method for Analysing Government Investments in Education....Pages 17-37 Front Matter....Pages 39-39 A Method for Estimating the Determinants of Schooling Outcomes....Pages 41-99 The Impact of Investments in School Quality on Cognitive Skills....Pages 100-166 Front Matter....Pages 167-167 The Impact of Cognitive Skills on Wages....Pages 169-205 The Impact of Schooling and Cognitive Skills on Income from Non-Farm Self-Employment....Pages 206-252 The Impact of Cognitive Skills on Income from Farming....Pages 253-291 Front Matter....Pages 293-293 Child Health and Mothers’ Education in Ghana....Pages 295-326 Fertility and Women’s Schooling in Ghana....Pages 327-344 Front Matter....Pages 345-345 Summary of Findings and Recommendations for Future Research....Pages 347-353 Back Matter....Pages 354-373 This title presents a method of establishing the economic returns to investments in school quality. Empirical work using data from Ghana shows that investments in school quality have higher rates of return than investments in increased years of schooling. Paul Glewwe With Contributions By Jaikishan Desai ... [et Al.]. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 354-364) And Index.