Using statistical methods to adjust for a bias in selectivity, this paper analyzes the relative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of public schools and two types of private schools - elite and non-elite - in the Dominican Republic. Controlling for selection, it found that students in eighth...

A key consideration in the policy debate on the appropriate role of private schools in predominantly public school systems is cost effectiveness. The questions are: Do private school students learn more than their counterparts, and is it more or less expensive to educate students in private...

Almost by definition, the basis for development is infrastructure - whether services for human infrastructure (health, education, nutrition) or physical infrastructure (transport, energy, water). Although the infrastructure sectors are diverse, what they have in common is that public policy has...

This paper considers whether private educational institutions can play an expanded role in helping attain society's objective with respect to the efficiency and equity of the system of post-secondary education. The authors focus on how public subsidies can be used to meet the social objectives...

This paper presents the design of cost effective interventions to protect the environment from excessive pollution in developing countries. The concept of intervention is motivated by the typical explanation for environmental problems in economic theory--external effects. The aim of the paper is...

This paper provides evidence regarding the relative effects of single-sex and coeducational school in enhancing eighth grade mathematics achievement in Thailand. It uses pre and post eighth grade test scores to estimate value added equations for single-sex and coeducational schools. The...

Private interhousehold cash transfers are an important source of income in many developing countries. Although precise transfer patterns are only beginning to be researched, the authors review the preliminary evidence from other studies and conduct original analysis based on the recent Peru...

Sound public policy addresses externalities directly, when possible. Air pollution is best alleviated by policy instruments that internalize the social cost of pollution, making it attractive to reduce emissions. One such instrument might be a tax levied on individual emissions, if they are...

Cost-benefit analysis in education is an important tool in the economists'arsenal. However, it is essential that research, especially on the social benefits of education, make further progress to make cost-benefit more analysis. There is a need for more research on the effects of policy...

The challenge of sustaining economic growth over the long term is one that only a few countries have been able to surmount. Slowing momentum in countries like Malaysia and Thailand has led analysts and policy makers to consider what it would take to lift them out of middle-income status, where...