Christopher Colclough

Education and the Market: Which parts of the neo-liberal solution are correct?

Abstract For many years the orthodox view among economists has been that the state should take the major responsibility for both financing and supplying educational services. Over the past decade, however, a new group of “neoliberal” critics have argued that education systems in developing countries should be financed more directly by private households, particularly under the sharply constrained financial circumstances facing many governments in the South. This paper critically reviews the literature pertinent to this debate. On the basis of the available evidence, it finds that cost recovery policies would be harmful to both efficiency and equity if significant resources were to be generated by these means. Alternative revenue-raising measures are likely to provide a better solution. Private schooling can be helpful to governments facing strong financial constraints, but only under circumstances which are more tightly defined than those generally allowed by most neoliberal authors. Other policies are available to improve equity and efficiency in education which are not substantially included in the neoliberal case.

The impact of primary schooling on economic development: a review of the evidence

Abstract The contribution of primary schooling to economic development is greater than has conventionally been percieved. This review of recent research shows that primary schooling increases labour productivity in both urban and rural sectors, and that the economic returns to such investment are typically high. In addition, it reduces fertility, improves health and nutrition, and promotes other behavioural and attitudinal changes which are helpful to economic development. Investment strategies which give primary schooling an important place would be more conducive of growth-with-equity than many alternatives. Priorities for government and donor policies are indicated, as are those for future research.

States or markets? : neo-liberalism and the development policy debate

Structuralism versus neo-liberalism - an introduction, Christopher Colclough international financial markets - a case of market failure, Stephany Griffith-Jones recovery from macroeconomic disaster in sub-Saharan Africa, Charles Harvey visible and invisible hands in trade policy reform, David Evans industrialization in Botswana - how getting the prices right helped the wrong people, Raphael Kaplinsky learning to raise infants, Hubert Schmitz and Tom Hewitt market relaxation and agricultural development, Michael Lipton who should learn to pay? - an assessment of neo-liberal approaches to education policy, Christopher Colclough managing health sector development - markets and institutional reform, Gerald Bloom neo-liberalism and the political economy of war - SSA as a case study of vacuum, Reginald Herbold Green the state and rural development - ideologies and an agenda for the 1990s, Robert Chambers neo-liberalism, gender and the limits of the market, Neila Kabeer and John Humphrey rent-seeking and market surrogates - the case of irrigation policy, Mick Moore politics and the neo-liberals, James Manor is there a new political economy of development?, John Toye.

Achieving Schooling for All: Budgetary Expenditures on Education in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

This paper analyzes public spending on education in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia over recent years, with a particular focus upon primary schooling. It identifies regional expenditure trends since 1980, and provides more detailed comparative data for selected countries during 1990-95. It shows that the achievement of high enrollment ratios has been associated not only with high priority being assigned to public expenditures on primary schooling, but also with the presence of modest unit costs of schooling. The paper argues that schooling for all is achievable, even in countries which are among the poorest, and where school enrollments are presently very low, provided governments are willing to reform both the private and public costs and efficiency of school systems, and to give expenditures on primary schooling their proper priority.

Raising additional resources for education in developing countries: Are graduate payroll taxes superior to student loans?

Abstract User fees, mitigated by student loans, have been widely advocated as a solution to the problem of equitably raising more resources to finance educational expansion in developing countries. This paper contests that case. It also argues that other, more promising modes of revenue generation have been overlooked in the cost-recovery debate. It demonstrates, using simulations for a particular African country, that graduate payroll taxes would satisfy equity and efficiency criteria more thoroughly than loans schemes. It also shows that they would help promote a range of other policy goals. Finally the paper identifies the structural characteristics under which payroll taxes would prove superior to student loans. It concludes that these results are likely to be applicable to a good number of countries in Africa and elsewhere.

Public-sector pay and adjustment : lessons from five countries

Changes to levels of earnings in the public and private sectors have a critical role in the adjustment process. Case studies of Singapore, Korea, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Argentina show that in those countries which adjusted unsuccessfully real earnings declined sharply, often with a further negative impact on output. The governments of the more successful East Asian adjusters influenced wage levels so as to help achieve their broader development goals. These case studies show that purely market-determined approaches to the labour market often failed.

The higher education paradox in African development planning

This paper examines the proposition that higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa is over-expanded. The commonly advanced external efficiency reasons for its advocacy are found unconvincing. Important internal inefficiencies, however, have been generated by post-independence patterns of educational expansion. In consequence, a paradox is identified: under some social and economic circumstances, a faster rate of expansion of higher education can exacerbate existing skill shortages in the labour market. This hypothesis is tested using data from Botswana which are compared with similar data for the region as a whole. The analysis demonstrates that, whilst Botswana displays some of the expected symptoms of over-expansion, the paradox does not explain their appearance. Nevertheless the analysis shows that the country is something of an exception in Africa, and a prima facie case is established for the view that this ‘higher education paradox’ now faces planners in a number of countries—in the region— particularly so in the poorer countries with severe adjustment burdens.

Donor agency support for primary education: Strategies reconsidered

Abstract In recent years a number of donor agencies have increased their lending to primary education in developing countries. However, some characteristics of primary schooling make it unsatisfactory for capital aid support, and arguments to increase recurrent funding are always controversial in aid policy circles. Nevertheless, this paper argues that this support should be further strengthened. It briefly reviews the economic case for such an emphasis. It analyses the typical problems faced in primary education, and the policy choices facing national governments. The final section outlines the main opportunities and priorities for increased donor agency support to the primary sector.

From Take-off to Sustained Growth and Maturity - Reflections on a Half-Century of Rapid JDS Development

Abstract This paper reflects on salient aspects of the development of JDS over its first 50 years. The journal’s origins and its aspirations to become the major inter-disciplinary journal in development studies are described. The rapid growth in the number of papers submitted to the journal and in the volume of its published articles are documented, and reasons for the journals success are suggested.

Educating All the Children: Strategies for Primary Schooling in the South.

The problem outlined differential progress towards schooling for all - a cross-country analysis case-studies of educational reforms policy options for increasing access to schooling modelling the impact of reforms - cost and quality issues assessing the costs and financing of schooling for all aid to education and policy reform.