Work

The Expansion of Mass Education in Twentieth Century Latin America: A Global Comparative Perspective

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT This paper studies the expansion of mass education in Latin America in the twentieth century from a global comparative perspective. The paper argues that expansion in terms of enrolment and attainment levels was quite impressive. A comparative analysis of the grade enrolment distribution demonstrates, however, that the rapid expansion of primary school enrolment did not correspond with an equally impressive improvement in educational quality. The persistently large tertiary education bias in public education spending suggests that part of the poor quality performance is related to a lack of fscal support for primary education and that the political economy explanation for educational underdevelopment, as advanced by Engerman, Mariscal and Sokoloff for the 19thcentury, still applied to Latin America during most of the 20thcentury.

Source: Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History

DOI: 10.1017/s0212610900000811

Author: Ewout Frankema

Institution: Utrecht University

Language: English

Topic: Historical Education Studies Worldwide

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

Funders: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, European Social Fund