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Globalization and educational inequality during the 18th to 20th centuries: Latin America in global comparison*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2010

Joerg Baten  and
Christina Mumme
Joerg Baten*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Tuebingen and CESifo, Mohlstrasse 36, 72074 Tuebingen. joerg.baten@uni-tuebingen.de, mumme@gmx.net
Christina Mumme*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Tuebingen and CESifo, Mohlstrasse 36, 72074 Tuebingen. joerg.baten@uni-tuebingen.de, mumme@gmx.net
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Abstract

This paper explores the inequality of numeracy and education by studying school years and numeracy of the rich and poor, as well as of tall and short individuals. To estimate numeracy, the age-heaping method is used for the 18th to early 20th centuries. Testing the hypothesis that globalization might have increased the inequality of education, we find evidence that 19th century globalization actually increased inequality in Latin America, but 20th century globalization had positive effects by reducing educational inequality in a broader sample of developing countries. Moreover, we find strong evidence for Kuznets’s inverted U hypothesis, that is, rising educational inequality with GDP per capita in the period until 1913 and the opposite after 1945.

Resumen

En este artículo se estudia la inequidad en la alfabetización matemática – numeracy- y en la educación analizando los años de escolarización y alfabetización matemática de ricos y pobres, ya sean individuos altos o bajos. Para estimar la alfabetización matemática utilizamos el método age heaping para los siglos XVIII y XIX. Contrastando la hipótesis de que la globalización puede haber incrementado la inequidad educacional, encontramos evidencias de que la globalización del siglo XIX aumentó esta inequidad mientras la globalización del siglo XX tuvo, sin embargo, efectos positivos en la reducción de la inequidad educacional en una amplia muestra de países en desarrollo. Además, hemos encontrado evidencias que confirman la hipótesis de la U invertida de Kuznets: una relación positiva entre la inequidad educacional y el PBI per cápita en el período anterior a 1913 y lo opuesto en el período posterior a 1945.

Keywords

human capitalinequalityage heapingnumeracyglobalizationI21N30N36O57capital humanodesigualdadage heapingglobalización
Type
Articles/Artículos
Information
Revista de Historia Economica - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History , Volume 28 , Special Issue 2: Special Issue on Latin American Inequality , September 2010 , pp. 279 - 305
Copyright
Copyright © Instituto Figuerola de Historia y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid 2010

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