Global economic transformations have never been as dramatic as in the twentieth century. Most countries have experienced radical changes in the standards of income per capita, technology, fertility, mortality, income inequality and the extent of democracy in the course of the past century. It is the goal of many disciplines--economics, history,…

In this article, the author documents the learning disadvantage of rural primary school students in sub-Saharan Africa and attempts to identify the factors underlying such disadvantages. Analyzing data from 14 school systems participating in the second study of the Southern and Western Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ…