The authors explore differences in education in rich and poor countries by first systematically documenting the relationship between per capita GNP and various indicators of educational development. They then exploit a simple accounting identity relating the availability of resources to their...

Until comparatively recently, most training in most countries has been enterprise-based and has been financed by the employer, by the trainee, or both jointly, normally without money changing hands. As a first approximation, the cost of firm-specific training is absorbed by the employer, and the...

Pension systems may have a different impact on gender because women are less likely than men to work in formal labor markets and earn lower wages when they do. Recent multipillar pension reforms tighten the link between payroll contributions and benefits, leading critics to argue that they will...

A hot issue in development economics is how much to rely on user charges and private organizations to provide such social services as health and education. Most analysts arguing on either side of the issue assume that any policy decisions involve a tradeoff between equity and efficiency. The...

The proportion of students enrolled in private rather than public schools varies greatly among countries. The author tries to explain (1) the systematically higher proportion of enrollment in private schools in developing countries than in developed countries, at the secondary level, and (2) the...

What is the most cost-effective way to organize individual accounts that are part of a mandatory social security system? Defined-contribution individual account components of social security systems are criticized for being too expensive. The authors investigate the cost-effectiveness of two...

One of the main criticisms of the defined-contribution, individual-account components of social security systems is that they are too expensive. The authors investigate the cost-effectiveness of three options for constructing funded social security pillars: * Individual accounts invested in the...

Pension reforms normally focus on the accumulation phase, plus term insurance that provides bnefits for the disabled and for dependent survivors, all of which are immediate concerns. Decumulation of the capital in workers'retirement savings accounts appears to be far in the future. But in the...

The author summarizes the major findings and recommendations in Averting the Old Age Crisis, describing problems in traditional pension systems and proposals for reform. Then she describes how those reforms are being implemented in many countries and examines empirical evidence about pension...

Most old people in developing countries are uninsured by formal social security programs. Economic growth is the key to increased coverage, but policy also matters, argues the author. Contributory insurance programs may not work for much of the population in developing economies. Moreover, the...