Determinants of International Differences in Education Effort

Abstract

The vital role played by education as an input in the processes of economic growth and development has been extensively documented. Much less attention has been given to the determinants of the amount of education produced, even though the persistence of extremely large international differences in this respect is common knowledge and there is continuing, widespread concern with the severe education deficiencies of many less-developed countries. The present paper represents an attempt to identify and measure these determinants, as they operate within an international cross-section, and to place them within a systematic framework. It is hoped that both the substantive results and the methodology will contribute to further investigation of a topic which remains incompletely explored.