Both the potential pitfalls of macro-economic policies focused on stimulating economic growth and the problems involved in using GDP as a measure of well-being or economic welfare have long been recognized by economists and researchers from other social sciences. Therefore, it is no surprise that alternative measures for policy-making have been…

This paper has two main objectives. First, it aims to analyse the connections between education and poverty established by the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), a central policy tool for the articulation of the Post Washington Consensus. Second, it intends to study how the PRSPs have been consolidated and expanded through different…

The concept of development has evolved from an exclusive focus on economic growth towards an interrelated, even integrated approach involving progress across a range of disciplines such as health, education, economics and agriculture. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are rooted in this evolved conception of development. A concerted global…

China's key science and technology universities are modelled on the French "Ecole Polytechnique". As such, they are utilitarian institutions, rooted in the concept of cultivating manpower for society's economic progress, and tending to ignore the development of the individual. As China's elite higher education system took in a rapidly…

This paper analyses the relation between power and politics under the conditions of economic globalisation and transnational policy-making in education. The paper argues that power lies not only with the producers of the dominant educational discourse nor simply with the very discourse which is circulated and reproduced in national legislations,…

American universities today serve as economic engines, performing the scientific research that will create new industries, drive economic growth, and keep the United States globally competitive. But only a few decades ago, these same universities self-consciously held themselves apart from the world of commerce. "Creating the Market University" is…

A growing number of countries have recognised the importance of high quality early childhood provision for the development of the young child and the impact on economic growth and prosperity. What shapes Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in an expanding Europe of today? Many factors clearly influence policy decisions and program…

Focuses on political and bureaucratic factors that retard the reform of U.S. economic development policy. Several models for economic development are examined, as are the policy preferences among them. A typology is presented of different development policies integrating the various political, bureaucratic, and environmental factors. (GLR)

The Education Working Paper Series is produced by the Education Unit at the World Bank (HDNED). It provides an avenue for World Bank staff to publish and disseminate preliminary education findings to encourage discussion and exchange ideas within the World Bank and among the broader development community. Throughout the 1990s and into the…