Abstract

ABSTRACT The Second National Education Regulatory Framework (2nd LDB), enacted in 1971, changed the grade configuration of schooling levels in Brazil. This change made it challenging to construct a valid and reliable education spending data profile for 20th century Brazil. Previous work on the economic history of education in Brazil used the data provided according to the thesis of Maduro (2007). Wjuniski (2013) used that database and ran structural break tests and concluded that the Brazilian government underinvested in the expansion of secondary education. However, Wjuniski did not consider problems concerning: (i) data reliability and (ii) the effects of the 2nd LDB on education expenditure data. This paper shows that data on education spending in Brazil does not allow us to assert that there was an underinvestment in secondary education from 1971 onwards.

Highlights

  • In a paper published in the Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Wjuniski (2013) attempts to explain why Brazilian education lagged behind other countries throughout the 20th century

  • This paper shows that data on education spending in Brazil does not allow us to assert that there was an underinvestment in secondary education from 1971 onwards

  • In a paper published in the Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Wjuniski (2013) attempts to explain why Brazilian education lagged behind other countries throughout the 20th century

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Summary

INTRODUCTION

In a paper published in the Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Wjuniski (2013) attempts to explain why Brazilian education lagged behind other countries throughout the 20th century. Bearing in mind the 2nd LDB grade span change, it is hard to say what ‘secondary education’ means in this context: the spending series represents expenditures on a seven-year secondary education, named ensino médio prior to 1971, while the series continues with data representing spending on three-year upper secondary education, the segundo grau. The same can be asserted of the first schooling level: the education spending series refers to a four-grade primary education (ensino primário) until 1971, whereas the data after 1971 represents the expenditures on the eighth-grade primary plus lower secondary level, the primeiro grau.. This is a surprising finding, since we are dealing with two different data series It means that the expenditure per student regime in the 4-year primary school before 1970 was not statistically different from how much was spent on average with the representative pupil of the 8-year primeiro grau after 1971. The limitations they faced are common in historical research, which should push the research agenda towards a collection of more accurate historical data

Enrollment data
Findings
Bai-Perron structural break test
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