Over the last 25 years, Latin American and Caribbean nations have bet heavily on education as a route to more equitable and prosperous societies. Today, the region spends on average 3 percentage points more of its GDP on education than in the early 1990s, with spending fast approaching levels in the developed world. Enrollment in primary school has become nearly universal and … [Read more...] about Latin America, the Caribbean and PISA: The Long Road Ahead
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Better Tools for Poor Kids Choosing Schools
Sooner or later all teenagers consider who they want to be when they grow up. It is a defining moment for their sense of self and future, and intimately linked with their ability to seize what they want from life. Will I be a cabdriver or carpenter? Clerk or cashier? Or can I just as easily be an accountant, architect or engineer? For middle class and wealthy children, these … [Read more...] about Better Tools for Poor Kids Choosing Schools
When Information on Higher Education Narrows the Skills Gap
Higher education in Latin America has achieved some impressive gains over the past quarter century. An elite system consisting of at most a few dozen traditional universities in each country has radically transformed to include hundreds of new professional institutes, technical and vocational schools. At the same time, enrollment has soared. Between 1992 and 2012, the … [Read more...] about When Information on Higher Education Narrows the Skills Gap
Colombia: Bringing Fighters Back Into the Fold?
On Oct. 7, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos became the sixth Latin American to win the Nobel Peace Prize as he was recognized for his efforts to end a 52-year-long civil conflict, the last major war in the Americas. But for supporters of Colombia’s peace process, it was a bittersweet moment. Eleven days earlier, the president had clasped hands with his sworn enemy, … [Read more...] about Colombia: Bringing Fighters Back Into the Fold?
Trimming the Fat for Better Growth
Why do governments need to save? In large part, for some of the same reasons people and firms need to save: to invest and help their economies grow and prosper. Public saving may make up less of national saving than household or corporate saving in Latin America and the Caribbean. But it is nonetheless vital to overall economic health. Greater public saving would allow … [Read more...] about Trimming the Fat for Better Growth