School Resources and Educational Outcomes in Developing Countries: A Review of the Literature from 1990 to 2010

71 Pages Posted: 29 Oct 2011 Last revised: 19 Jun 2023

See all articles by Paul Glewwe

Paul Glewwe

University of Minnesota - College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences - Department of Applied Economics

Eric A. Hanushek

Stanford University - Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Sarah Humpage Liuzzi

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities - Applied Economics Department; Researcher

Renato Ravina

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: October 2011

Abstract

Developing countries spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year on schools, educational materials and teachers, but relatively little is known about how effective these expenditures are at increasing students' years of completed schooling and, more importantly, the skills that they learn while in school. This paper examines studies published between 1990 and 2010, in both the education literature and the economics literature, to investigate which specific school and teacher characteristics, if any, appear to have strong positive impacts on learning and time in school. Starting with over 9,000 studies, 79 are selected as being of sufficient quality. Then an even higher bar is set in terms of econometric methods used, leaving 43 "high quality" studies. Finally, results are also shown separately for 13 randomized trials. The estimated impacts on time in school and learning of most school and teacher characteristics are statistically insignificant, especially when the evidence is limited to the "high quality" studies. The few variables that do have significant effects - e.g. availability of desks, teacher knowledge of the subjects they teach, and teacher absence - are not particularly surprising and thus provide little guidance for future policies and programs.

Suggested Citation

Glewwe, Paul and Hanushek, Eric A. and Humpage Liuzzi, Sarah and Humpage Liuzzi, Sarah and Ravina, Renato, School Resources and Educational Outcomes in Developing Countries: A Review of the Literature from 1990 to 2010 (October 2011). NBER Working Paper No. w17554, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1950972

Paul Glewwe (Contact Author)

University of Minnesota - College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences - Department of Applied Economics ( email )

1994 Buford Avenue
Room 231
St. Paul, MN 55108-1995
United States

Eric A. Hanushek

Stanford University - Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace ( email )

Stanford, CA 94305-6010
United States
650-736-0942 (Phone)
650-723-1687 (Fax)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

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Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Sarah Humpage Liuzzi

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities - Applied Economics Department ( email )

MN
United States

Researcher ( email )

United States

Renato Ravina

affiliation not provided to SSRN

No Address Available

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