Questions on Education and Economics Development

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS (20 POINTS)
1 In “Development as Freedom”, Sen argues for poverty to be defined in terms of capability deprivation – deprivations that are intrinsically important (rather than low income, which is only instrumentally important). He points to which of the following as proof that we need to go beyond simple income-based measures?
* Relative mortality rates of White and Black people in the US, and Black people in the US versus people in China and the Indian state of Kerala
* Low female-male ratios (“Missing Women”) in sub-Saharan Africa
* Low educational attainment (relative to growth) in East Asian Miracle countries
* All of the above
2 Recall the Bold et al. paper (Enrollment Without Learning) regarding teachers and teaching in sub-Saharan Africa. Which of the following is NOT a question that they address?
* How much do teachers teach?
* Who decides to become a teacher?
* What do teachers know?
* How well do teachers teach?
3 Hanushek and Woessmann (Schools and Growth) argue that “cross-country growth regressions generate a close relationship between educational achievement and GDP growth that is remarkably stable.” Which of the following is NOT one of their findings?
* Conditional on initial income levels, economic growth is well described by cognitive skill levels.
* Conditional on initial income levels, economic growth is well described by average years of schooling.
* The impact of educational achievement (cognitive skills) on economic growth is causal, when examined from multiple approaches.
* Correctly measuring human capital is key to proper evaluation of the relationship between education and economic growth.
4 The most important reason we conduct a randomized control trial (RCT) is (Hint: see Angrist and Pischke if want a refresher on RCTs)
* Ensuring large enough sample to yield valid inferences
* Ensuring similarity of the treatment and control populations
* Ensuring valid analyses at a relatively small cost
* Ensuring a diverse enough sample so that results have wide relevance to real-life
5 In her study of the impact of school construction in Indonesia, Duflo finds
* The program failed to increase educational attainment in a significant way.
* The program increased average schooling through increasing primary schooling mostly.
* The program increased average schooling through increasing both primary schooling and secondary schooling.
* Wages did not go up even though educational attainment increased
6 In his book “The Rebirth of Education: Schooling Ain’t Learning”, Pritchett talks about the expansion of schooling in the post-World War II era. According to him, this expansion was due to
* Prosperous countries having more money to invest in schools
* Democratic countries with popularly elected politicians promoting education
* A reduction in corruption across countries and increase in civil liberties
* None of the above
7 How does Mankiw et al. augment the Solow model?
* By introducing a technology parameter
* By introducing human capital alongside physical capital and labor
* By introducing capital depreciation...