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Global Universal Basic Skills: Current Deficits and Implications for World Development

Author

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  • Gust, Sarah

    (Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

  • Hanushek, Eric A.

    (Stanford University)

  • Woessmann, Ludger

    (University of Munich)

Abstract

How far is the world away from ensuring that every child obtains the basic skills needed to be internationally competitive? And what would accomplishing this mean for world development? Based on the micro data of international and regional achievement tests, we map achievement onto a common (PISA) scale. We then estimate the share of children not achieving basic skills for 159 countries that cover 98.1% of world population and 99.4% of world GDP. We find that at least two-thirds of the world's youth do not reach basic skill levels, ranging from 24% in North America to 89% in South Asia and 94% in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our economic analysis suggests that the present value of lost world economic output due to missing the goal of global universal basic skills amounts to over $700 trillion over the remaining century, or 11% of discounted GDP.

Suggested Citation

  • Gust, Sarah & Hanushek, Eric A. & Woessmann, Ludger, 2022. "Global Universal Basic Skills: Current Deficits and Implications for World Development," IZA Discussion Papers 15648, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15648
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    1. Alexandra de Gendre & Jan Feld & Nicolás Salamanca & Ulf Zölitz, 2023. "Same-sex teacher effects," ECON - Working Papers 438, Department of Economics - University of Zurich, revised May 2024.
    2. Lorenzo Cappellari & Daniele Checchi & Marco Ovidi, 2022. "The effects of schooling on cognitive skills: evidence from education expansions," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def122, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    3. Sarah Gust & Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Wößmann, 2024. "Globale Bildungsdefizite: Wie fehlende Grundkompetenzen Entwicklungschancen hemmen," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 77(01), pages 31-34, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    skills; student achievement; development goals; economic growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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