Page 12 - Education for Development:George Psacharopoulos University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

10 ᐿ࿲ၾආӉj઺ԃٙɢඎ

retraining programs for the unemployed are ineffective (Heckman et al.,

1999). The costs of such programs grossly exceed the benefits, the latter being
measured by the length of time needed for a graduate of these programs to find
a job, and by the earnings differential of those who graduated from the program

relative to those who did not (Heckman and Hotz 1989; Ashenfelter and Card
1985; Ashenfelter 1986; Ashenfelter and Lolonde 1997).

Preschool

There have been many cost-benefit studies on the effect of preschooling

on eventual educational attainment, adult earnings. Experimentally-induced
changes in non-cognitive skills at an early age explain a sizable portion of later
education, employment and earnings (Heckman 2000, 2008; Chetty et al, 2011;

Wall Street Journal, 2013).
A World Bank study documented a long list of benefits associate with
preschool education in Brazil, with an estimate of 12.5 - 15 percent return on the

investment. On cost-benefit grounds, preschool is a better investment relative to
the Bank’s industrial and agricultural projects (World Bank, 2001).
Yet, given its importance, preschool coverage is still low around the world,

ranging from an enrollment ratio of 18% in sub-Saharan Africa to 81% in
industrialized countries (Unicef, 2014).

Early school leaving

In recent years, there has been a surge in the literature on the loss or
cost to society associated with an educational system that falls behind agreed
benchmarks such as early school leaving (Psacharopoulos, 2007). For example,
reducing early school leaving in Romania would produce a benefit of about 1%