Date: Wednesday 22 September 2010
Time: 4.30-6pm
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Professor Michael Kremer
Discussants: Professor Geeta Kingdon, Dr Lansana Nyalley, Professor James Tooley
Chair: Professor Steve Machin

Michael Kremer discusses issues surrounding reform of education systems in developing countries based on evidence from studies on incentive mechanisms, peer effects and other interventions.

Across a range of contexts, reductions in education costs and provision of subsidies can boost school participation, often dramatically. Decisions to attend school seem subject to peer effects and time-inconsistent preferences. Merit scholarships, school health programs, and information about returns to education can all cost-effectively spur school participation. However, distortions in education systems, such as weak teacher incentives and elite-oriented curricula, undermine learning in school and much of the impact of increasing existing educational spending. Pedagogical innovations designed to address these distortions (such as technology-assisted instruction, remedial education, and tracking by achievement) can raise test scores at a low cost. Merely informing parents about school conditions seems insufficient to improve teacher incentives, and evidence on merit pay is mixed, but hiring teachers locally on short-term contracts can save money and improve educational outcomes. School vouchers can cost-effectively increase both school participation and learning.

Michael Kremer is the Gates Professor of Developing Societies in the Department of Economics at Harvard University and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Geeta Kingdon is chair of Education Economics and International Development at the Institute of Education.

Lansana Nyalley is Deputy Minister in the Education Division of the Government of Sierra Leone.

James Tooley is professor of Education Policy at Newcastle University.

Update, 14 September: Professor George Imbanga Godia will no longer be taking part in this panel due to unforeseen circumstances.

This public event is part of Growth Week 2010, a three-day conference organised by the International Growth Centre (IGC). The previous public event is on 21 September at 6.30pm and is entitled Industrial Revolution or Agricultural Revolution?. The next event entitled Domestic Resource Mobilisation and Growth takes place at 6.30pm on 22 September.

On 12 October Andrew Mitchell, the UK Secretary of State for International Development take part in an event on Wealth Creation in Developing Countries with Professor Paul Collier, see event listing for more details.

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