Investment In Formal Education Research Articles

Women and Finance-Specific Human Capital: Impact of Gender Role Attitudes

The benefits and costs of investing in finance-specific human capital are affected by subjective attitudes about the expected improvement in consumption from higher-quality financial decisions and the expected psychic costs of investing. This study investigates how gender role attitudes of women predict their acquisition of finance-specific human capital. Results indicate that women with the most traditional gender role attitudes are less financially literate than women with non-traditional gender role attitudes and men. Gender role attitudes formed early in life explain differences in financial literacy between men and women observed in prior studies. Multivariate analyses that control for attained human capital suggest that traditional gender role attitudes affect finance-specific human capital investment and investment in formal education. Women with traditional gender role attitudes are the least knowledgeable and have the lowest confidence in applying their financial knowledge.

Analysis of the competitiveness of soybean production in Benin

With the increase in its production and its prized label, Beninese soybeans are increasingly targeting the Chinese and European markets. It is then essential, to be able to take advantage of the market and to produce better by being competitive. This study goes beyond a simple profitability analysis to analyse the competitiveness of soybean production in Benin (based on the domestic resource cost ratio) and the factors on which it depends. Data used concern 967 soybean-producing farms from two agricultural development regions. Producing nearly 89% of the national soybean production, these regions have been identified for the promotion of soybean cultivation by the Beninese government. Policy Analysis Matrix and binomial logistic regression were used to analyse these data. The results showed that soybean production is profitable from both a financial and economic perspective. The Domestic Resource Cost Ratio was estimated at 0.55, indicating that the farms studied are globally competitive. The microeconomic analysis reveals that more than two-thirds of the farms in the study area are competitive. Investment in formal education for farm managers; public and private investment in infrastructure, particularly market infrastructure, technical innovations, and information transfer; and facilitating access to agricultural advice are factors on which the various stakeholders can act to improve farm competitiveness.

A West African Spider-Man and the Enduring Concept of “the Stranger”

A West African Spider-Man and the Enduring Concept of “the Stranger”

Matching learning conditions to explicit knowledge characteristics: informing employer-supported investments in individual human capital

ABSTRACT Employers are increasingly making investments in formal education in order to impart explicit knowledge to employees. However, employers rarely match the explicit knowledge sought with the delivery platforms available in formal education when making such investments. Due to inconclusive prior validation of such a match, this study explores the association between three explicit knowledge characteristics (conceptual, applied, and contextual), three delivery platforms (face-to-face, video-based, and blended), and learners’ reactions to video-based versus traditional instructor-led face-to-face lectures. Quantitative analysis of learners’ assessment data and qualitative content analysis of learners’ reactions from a survey of learning conditions revealed conclusive matches. The face-to-face delivery platform was salient for conceptual and applied explicit knowledge characteristics and its engaging, informative quality, but was faulted for being unreviewable. Technology-enabled video-based and blended were salient for the explicit knowledge characteristic that required review for contextualization, but were tempered by video-viewing fatigue due to loss of motivation over time.

Returns to education among the informally employed in Thailand

Thailand experienced rapid economic development and made significant investments in education over the past four decades; however, more than half of Thai workers remain informally employed. Despite the prevalence and persistence of informal work in Thailand, little is known about the returns to investments in formal education among informal workers. Using individual‐level data from the 2011, 2013, and 2015 Thailand Household Socio‐economic Surveys, this study estimates the wage returns to years of education for informal workers using an instrumental variable (IV) approach to correct for potentially biased coefficient estimates on years of education due to unobserved ability. Contrary to expectations, informally employed Thai workers find substantial returns to investments in formal education. The results under the IV approach indicate that the return to an additional year of education for the informally employed is 11–12 per cent, compared to almost 15 per cent for formally employed private firm workers.

Socioeconomic Determinants of Food Insecurity among Zambian Households: Evidence from a National Household Survey

Meal frequency is an important indicator of food security and nutritional status. Defining food insecurity as a household’s inability to consume at least three meals a day, this study uses a logit model to investigate the socioeconomic determinants of food insecurity among Zambian households. Primary data from the 2010 Living Conditions Monitoring Survey data set developed by the Central Statistical Office were used. The 2010 Living Conditions Monitoring Survey used a nationally representative sample of about 20,000 households. This study found that urban households, households with higher income, and households with younger, more educated and male heads were more likely to be food-secure. Therefore, there is need to accelerate investments in formal education, narrow the rural–urban socioeconomic divide, and reduce gender inequities through deliberate policies to increase women’s access to and control over economic resources such as land.

Management development experiences and expectations: informal vs formal learning

PurposeMany organisations are reconsidering their investment in formal education and training, in favour of more informal approaches to learning such as mentoring, temporary assignments, stretch assignments, and job rotation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which managers have developed capabilities for their roles thus far and their preferred approaches for future development with particular consideration given to a comparison of formal and informal learning.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reports on a case study conducted within an Australian nonprofit organisation focussing on the extent to which managers attribute their current level of management skills to formal or informal learning and the extent to which they would prefer formal or informal learning (or a combination) for future development.FindingsFindings indicate a large part of the managers’ current management capabilities were acquired through informal means, and these are seen as desirable for ongoing development, however, there is also a desire for formal learning methods to complement informal methods.Originality/valueManagement development is a critical HRD activity however there is limited knowledge about how managers have built their current capabilities and their preferences in terms of the mix of formal and informal learning for the future.

How are education and minority status connected: The case of Romanian Roma in Wrocław

This paper aims to discuss the connection between compulsory schooling and minority status, and how they are related to differential performance of minorities in national education systems. After describing the theoretical framework based on the works of John Ogbu, I will attempt to present how his Cultural-Ecological Theory of School Performance refers to Romanian Roma community in Wrocław, Poland, which is a group systematically excluded from the dominant society. The analysis suggests that systemic forces act against Roma. This is marked by discrimination towards them in schools and in the labour market. On the side of Roma, mistrust in public institutions, fear of loosing cultural identity and seeing escaping the pariah status as unobtainable leads to lack of investment in formal education.

Pengaruh Strategi Nafkah terhadap Dinamika Kemiskinan di Wilayah Hulu dan Hilir Sungai Cimanuk, Jawa Barat

This study examined the effect of livelihood strategy on poverty dynamics in upstream and downstream region of Cimanuk Watershed, West Java. Study used cross-sectional and historical design. Study was conducted in Garut Disctict as upstream region and Indramayu District as downstream region. This research involved 138 families who have preschool and school child. The families were chosen by purposive sampling and the data was obtained by interview using questionnaire. Multinomial logistic regression was used to find factors influencing poverty dynamics status. The result showed that poverty in upstream region was dominated by moving into poverty dynamic, whereas poverty in downstream region was dominated by always poor dynamic. Families in downstream region have higher possibility to moving out of poverty than families in upstream region. Multinomial regression analysis showed that livelihood strategy had influence on poverty dynamics. Human capital investment in formal education and strengthening local-based livelihood patterns should be encouraged to reduce poverty.

Is Parental Love Colorblind? Human Capital Accumulation within Mixed Families

Studies have shown that differences in wage-determinant skills between blacks and whites emerge during a child's infancy, highlighting the roles of parental characteristics and investment decisions. Exploring the genetics of skincolor and models of intrahousehold allocations, I present evidence that, controlling for observed and unobserved parental characteristics, light-skinned children are more likely to receive investments in formal education than their dark-skinned siblings. Conscious parental decisions regarding human capital acquisition for their children seem to contribute for the persistence of earnings differentials and socio-economic stratification in Brazil.

Female migrants, family members and community socio-demographic characteristics influence facility delivery in Rufiji, Tanzania

BackgroundHealth professionals and public health experts in maternal and newborn health encourage women to deliver at health facilities in an effort to reduce maternal and newborn mortality. In the existing literature, there is scant information on how migration, family members and community influence facility delivery. This study addresses this knowledge gap using 10 years of longitudinal surveillance data from a rural district of Tanzania.MethodsMultilevel logistic regression was used to quantify the influence of hypothesized migration, family and community-level factors on facility delivery while adjusting for known confounders identified in the literature. We report adjusted odds ratios (AOR).ResultsOverall, there has been an increase of 14% in facility delivery over the ten years, from 63% in 2001 to 77% in 2010 (p < .001). Women residing in households with female migrants from outside their community were more likely to give birth in a facility AOR = 1.2 (95% CI 1.11-1.29). Furthermore, the previous facility delivery of sisters and sisters-in-law has a significant influence on women’s facility delivery; AOR = 1.29, 95% CI 1.15-1.45 and AOR = 1.7, 95% CI 1.35-2.13 respectively. Community level characteristics play a role as well; women in communities with higher socioeconomic status and older women of reproductive age had increased odds of facility delivery; AOR = 2.37, 95% CI 1.88-2.98 and AOR = 1.17, 95% CI 1.03-1.32 respectively.ConclusionAlthough there has been an increase in facility delivery over the last decade in Rufiji, this study underscores the importance of female migrants, family members and community in influencing women’s place of delivery. The findings of this study suggest that future interventions designed to increase facility delivery must integrate person-to-person facility delivery promotion, especially through women of the community and within families. Furthermore, the results suggest that investment in formal education of the community and increased community socio-economic status may increase facility delivery.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2393-14-329) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A multigenerational mobility study: empirical evidence from Brazil

Purpose– Most intergenerational mobility studies use data on two generations to estimate the elasticity between son's and father's earnings. The purpose of this paper is to use a data set spanning three generations to estimate additional relationships between a person's earnings and family background yielded by intergenerational mobility models such as Becker-Tomes (1979) model and modified versions of it.Design/methodology/approach– The paper uses data from the 1996 PNAD – a nationally representative household survey in Brazil. The author builds a data set consisting of 5,125 grandfather-father-son triplets by taking advantage of two characteristics of Brazil. First, commonly in Brazil, individuals live with their parents until they marry. Second, individuals tended to quit school and begin working at an early age. As a result, there are many households with adult sons who are not at the very beginning of their working careers. Since the sample is limited to households with adult sons, the author applies Heckman (1979) estimation procedure to address selection bias.Findings– Estimation results contradict some predictions of simple versions of the Becker and Tomes model. The paper proposes a modified version of the Becker and Tomes model that allows for a skipping generation effect, and finds that family background explains 34.9 percent of the variation in earnings among males aged 16-27 in Brazil. If there were no differences in endowments (talent, IQ, health, physical appearance, attitudes toward work, family connections, etc.), the variation in earnings would fall by no less than 26 percent. If it were possible to eliminate differences in investment in human capital, the variation in earnings would fall by at most 21.1 percent.Research limitations/implications– The paper has two main data limitations. First, the 1996 earnings of the fathers and sons are used as proxies for lifetime earnings although the transitory component of one-year earnings may be quite large, particularly at young ages. Second, in spite of the efforts to deal with the sample selection bias, the paper shows that the intergenerational elasticity in earnings for the sons aged 22-27 is about 14.6 percent lower for the subsample of households with adult sons than for the full sample.Practical implications– The paper finds evidence supporting the existence of a direct effect of the grandparents on the grandchildren beyond their influence on the parents, and reinforces consideration of this factor in intergenerational mobility studies.Social implications– The findings in this paper may suggest a room for improvements in economic outcomes of children in less privileged families through investment in formal education as well as policies that considers other aspects of a person's life. For instance, Bolsa Família – a Brazilian government program that provide cash allowances to poor families conditional on children school attendance – may improve the economic outcomes of poor children by enforcing formal education and by lessening the children hardships at home.Originality/value– The paper proposes a modified version of the Becker and Tomes model which allows for a skipping generation effect. Under the assumptions of the modified model and in hand with a three-generations data set from Brazil, the paper estimates a lowerbound for the variation in earnings explained by differences in endowments across families, and an upperbound for the variation in earnings explained by differences in human capital.

“Little, if at all, Removed from the Illiterate Farrier or Cow-leech”: The English Veterinary Surgeon, c.1860–1885, and the Campaign for Veterinary Reform

“Little, if at all, Removed from the Illiterate Farrier or Cow-leech”: The English Veterinary Surgeon, <i>c</i>.1860–1885, and the Campaign for Veterinary Reform

When schooling fails

Scholarly discussions of formal education in the global South are increasingly moving away from a narrow focus on human capital to consider the meanings that people attach to ‘being educated’. This article advances current debates on the social construction of educational value in South Asia by examining how educated Chamar (Dalit) young men reflect on their education in the face of poor occupational outcomes. Since the 1960s, Dalits’ investment in formal education in rural Uttar Pradesh (UP) has seen a marked rise, in part through emulation of higher castes. The pro–Dalit Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has also been instrumental in promoting a vision of empowerment through formal education and entry into white–collar employment. Our research in rural Bijnor district suggests that the most recent generation of high school and college graduates amongst the Chamars has failed to find salaried employment. Some young men respond to this exclusion by reaffirming their faith in the BSP's model of progress and establishing them–selves as local political figures (netas). Other young men voice a growing alienation from the BSP's vision of empowerment and speak of themselves as people ‘trapped’ by education. Nevertheless, both these sets of young men continue to value education as a source of ‘cultural distinction’, sign of their ‘modern’ status, and means of challenging caste–based notions of difference.

Benefits of Women's Education within Marriage

Studies of the returns to education have generally investigated the relationship between individuals' investments in formal education and on-the-job training and their labor-market productivity. It is well recognized, however, that other factors besides formal education and training contribute to a person's effective stock of human capital (and hence to productivity); these factors include early childhood environment, parents' behavior (see Dugan 1969), and associations with other individuals. There is general agreement, for example, that a child's development is affected by the ability and performance of peers in school. At a later stage, a significant part of an individual's college and graduate education appears to result from association with fellow students, the more able students contributing to the education of all. After formal schooling is completed, close associates are likely to continue to affect an individual's further educational development and to influence the rate of depreciation of the individual's stock of knowledge. One of the more persuasive explanations of the observed strong positive relationship between formal education and labor-market productivity is that, in addition to providing specific skills, formal education improves the individual's ability to acquire and assimilate information, to perceive and understand changing conditions, and to respond effectively.' From