What Do 50 Years of Census Records and Household Survey Data Tell Us about Human Opportunities and Welfare in Latin America?

Calvo-Gonzalez, Oscar ; Caruso, German D. ; Castaneda-Aguilar, R. Andres ; Malasquez, Eduardo A.

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: INEQUALITY;    OPPORTUNITY;    WELFARE;    CENSUS;    HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-9205
RP-ID  :  WPS9205

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

To comprehend how development reallyhappens, it is necessary to understand the evolution of itsdrivers and their relationship with individuals'income. This paper analyzes the expansion of access toeducation and basic services in Latin America and itsassociation with the evolution of incomes in the region. Thepaper focuses on the importance of access to opportunitiesas one of the drivers of development and highlights the roleof policy making. The findings suggest that access toeducation and basic public services early in life arepositively correlated with incomes in adulthood. Theanalysis also suggests that countries follow a dissimilarpath to increase access to education and basic services. Thepaper undertakes a comprehensive analysis of historic censusrecords to add granularity to the assessment of thedevelopment of countries, matched with detailedindividual-level information from household surveys ofseveral countries in the region. The paper widens an ongoingarea of research on the long-run relationship between accessto opportunities during childhood and incomes in adulthood.