Education Attainment in the Middle East and North Africa : Success at a Cost
This paper reviews the experience of the Middle East and North Africa region in education attainment over the past four decades (1970-2010). It documents the following main findings: (a) all countries in the region experienced significant improvements in educational attainment over this period; (b) most countries in the region did better in this regard than comparators that had roughly the same education stocks in 1970; (c) collectively, the region achieved a greater percentage increase in education than other regions; (d) the region's better performance was in part because of higher rates of public spending on education, better food sufficiency status, and a lower initial stock of education in 1970 in comparison with most other developing country regions; and (e) the region had among the lowest payoffs to public spending in terms of increments in education stock; the impressive advance in education was achieved at high cost.
Summary: | This paper reviews the experience of the
Middle East and North Africa region in education attainment
over the past four decades (1970-2010). It documents the
following main findings: (a) all countries in the region
experienced significant improvements in educational
attainment over this period; (b) most countries in the
region did better in this regard than comparators that had
roughly the same education stocks in 1970; (c) collectively,
the region achieved a greater percentage increase in
education than other regions; (d) the region's better
performance was in part because of higher rates of public
spending on education, better food sufficiency status, and a
lower initial stock of education in 1970 in comparison with
most other developing country regions; and (e) the region
had among the lowest payoffs to public spending in terms of
increments in education stock; the impressive advance in
education was achieved at high cost. |
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