Professor of Economics, Department of Economics - Iowa State University
Research areasLabor economics, transition economies, human capital investment, rural labor markets, policy evaluation, applied econometrics
Perspective Paper
52% of all primary-aged children who are not attending school are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, 61% of the children expected to receive no primary schooling during their lifetimes reside in that region. If we are to meet the Millennium Development Goal of Universal Primary Education for all, the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa represent the greatest challenge.
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Assessment Paper
By Peter F. Orazem. Over the past 50 years, remarkable progress has been made ensuring that children receive basic education. More than sixty percent of adults in low-income countries can read and write, whereas in 1962, just one-third were literate.
Best Practice Paper
By Peter F. Orazem, Paul Glewwe and Harry Patrinos. In almost all countries of the world, schooling raises earnings. This is true in developing as well as developed countries. Similar returns to schooling are found for both urban and rural residents and for both women and men. The median increase in earnings varies from 8‐10% per added year of schooling.
By Peter F. Orazem, Paul Glewwe, and Harry Patrinos. Building human capital by developing literate populations is a key driver for further economic growth. Interventions to encourage the 14.4 million children who drop out of primary education to complete grade 5 would cost $3.6 billion and be highly cost effective.
This paper reviews the stylized facts regarding the distribution of human capital investments and the returns to those investments in developing countries.
Presentation
Peter Orazem presented his findings on the topic of lack of education at the Bill Gates for a Day conference in March 2007.
In 2004 and 2008, the Copenhagen Consensus Center held two major projects that helped to shape overseas development spending and philanthropic decisions for years to come. The third Copenhagen Consensus was the latest iteration of our ongoing work to prioritize the best solutions.
The second Copenhagen Consensus took place 25-30 May in Copenhagen. Once again, our Expert Panel tackled the question, Imagine you had $75 billion to donate to worthwhile causes. What would you do, and where should we start? The Panel released a prioritized list recommending how best to tackle ten of the world's most pressing issues.
If you were the richest man of the world how would you solve the world's problem? Participate in the event and give your prioritization....
The Copenhagen Consensus UNICEF meeting brought together a number of UN ambassadors and set focus on the issue of prioritizing the use of limited resources in the global effort to mitigate the negative consequences of ten global challenges such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, hunger and climate change.
