Friday, December 21, 2007

efficacy of the role of education in poverty alleviation

education can be a powerful tool to alleviate poverty in medium term. It is not very obvious in the short term but in the medium term it is one of the surer ways to move out of poverty for a family. Education makes more valuable the only resource poor have in ample measure at their disposal - their labor.
The issue however is that the education is a fairly long term investment. Also poor often are reluctant to let go of the current returns on the labor in return for a better though riskier returns later.

Is there a market mechanism to get the poor to balance this risk as a family?