Publication: Assessing the Economic Returns to Investing in Youth in Developing Countries
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2003-03
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2013-06-05
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This paper explores the economic case for investments in youth in developing countries. The current cohort of youth is the largest cohort ever. The economic, social, and demographic context of their lives has undergone enormous change, thus requiring a rethinking and re-evaluation of the range of investments in youth. This reappraisal must incorporate a number of critical features including recognition of the wide range of youth investments, the considerable lag in effects, and the likelihood that youth investments in one area affect investments and behavior in other areas. The paper examines forty-one investments in the following broad categories: formal schooling; civilian and military training, work; reproductive health; school-based health; other health; and community and other. The paper develops a life-cycle approach using cost-benefit analysis to calculate the economic returns to investments in youth. However, the information necessary to apply the methodology is sufficient for only a few investments in a few countries. Moreover, even for these cases, the estimated economic returns vary widely depending on the assumptions used. Despite these limitations, the available evidence suggests that some types of investments in youth, e.g., investments in formal schooling, adult basic education and literacy, some types of school-based health investments (e.g., micronutrient supplements and, under certain circumstances, reproductive health programs), and measures designed to reduce the consumption of tobacco (e.g., increases in the tobacco tax), yield economic returns that are at least as high as are those for many investments in other sectors. The lack of reliable information on the effects of many investments in youth is the most important information gap and the area meriting the highest priority for future research.
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“Knowles, James C.; Behrman, Jere R.. 2003. Assessing the Economic Returns to Investing in Youth in Developing Countries. HNP discussion paper series;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13763 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication The Economic Returns to Investing in Youth in Developing Countries : A Review of the Literature(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-01)This is a companion report to Assessing the Economic Returns to Investing in Youth in Developing Countries, with focus on the literature reviewed and greater detail in some parts than in the 2003 study. Both papers explore the economic case for investments in youth in developing countries. The current cohort of youth is the largest cohort ever. The economic, social, and demographic context of their lives has undergone enormous change, thus requiring a rethinking and re-evaluation of the range of investments in youth. This reappraisal must incorporate a number of critical features including recognition of the wide range of youth investments, the considerable lag in effects, and the likelihood that youth investments in one area affect investments and behavior in other areas. The paper examines forty-one investments in the following broad categories: formal schooling; civilian and military training, work; reproductive health; school-based health; other health; and community and other. The paper develops a lifecycle approach using cost-benefit analysis to calculate the economic returns to investments in youth. However, the information necessary to apply the methodology is sufficient for only a few investments in a few countries. Moreover, even for these cases, the estimated economic returns vary widely depending on the assumptions used. Despite these limitations, the available evidence suggests that some types of investments in youth, e.g., investments in formal schooling, adult basic education and literacy, some types of school-based health investments (e.g., micronutrient supplements and, under certain circumstances, reproductive health programs), and measures designed to reduce the consumption of tobacco (e.g., increases in the tobacco tax), yield economic returns that are at least as high as are those for many investments in other sectors. The lack of reliable information on the effects of many investments in youth is the most important information gap and the area meriting the highest priority for future research.Publication A Practical Guide to Economic Analysis of Youth Projects(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-11)Investments in youth are particularly important in light of the unprecedented numbers of young people now entering their reproductive and early adult productive years. 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While most youth in Argentina are educated, skilled, and healthy, a large group is potentially at risk of engaging in myopic behaviors, including school absenteeism and leaving, substance use and abuse, delinquency, crime, and risky sexual behavior. The consequences of these risky behaviors, unemployment, adolescent pregnancy, sexually-transmitted diseases, addiction, incarceration, violence, and social exclusion, make it difficult for youth to successfully transition to adulthood, imposing large costs on individuals and society. Applying the framework of the world development report 2007, this report examines the five life-changing transitions that all youth confront: leaving school and continuing to learn, starting to work, developing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, forming a family, and exercising citizenship.Publication Potential Applications of Conditional Cash Transfers for Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-07)A growing number of developing countries have introduced conditional cash transfer programs that provide money to poor families with certain contingencies attached - such as requiring school attendance or regular immunization and health check-ups. As the popularity of conditional cash transfer programs has grown, experimentation with potential applications in other areas of health, such as sexual and reproductive health, and HIV prevention, in particular, has also increased. Evaluations of conditional cash transfer programs have focused almost exclusively on uptake of health and educational services, which make relatively low demands of participants compared with more complex interventions, which require the cessation of risky behaviors, such as smoking, obesity, and substance abuse. The literature on contingency management - based on the principle that behavioral change occurs when appropriate behaviors are reinforced and rewarded - provides a richer picture of the complexity of the use of conditionality to encourage healthy behavioral change. This paper examines developing countries' experiences with conditional cash transfer programs and the results of trials in clinical settings on the efficacy of contingency management, and addresses their relevance for designing conditional cash transfer programs to address risky sexual behavior and promote the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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