Jayasuriya, RuwanWodon, Quentin2013-06-122013-06-122003-060-8213-5538-4https://hdl.handle.net/10986/13884To improve the likelihood of reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), or more generally to improve their social indicators, countries (or states and provinces within countries) basically have two options: increasing the inputs used to "produce" the outcomes measured by the MDGs, or increasing the efficiency with which they use their existing inputs. The four papers presented in this study look at whether improvements in efficiency could bring gains in outcomes. The first two papers use world panel data in order to analyze country level efficiency in improving education, health, and GDP indicators (GDP is related to the MDGs because a higher level of income leads to a reduction in poverty). The other two papers use province and state level data to analyze within-country efficiency in Argentina and Mexico for "producing" good education and health outcomes. Together, the four papers suggest that apart from increasing inputs, it will be necessary to improve efficiency in order to reach the MDGs. While this conclusion is hardly surprising, the analysis helps to quantify how much progress could be achieved through better efficiency, and to some extent, how efficiency itself could be improved.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGODEVELOPMENT GOALSHEALTH ASSESSMENTSEDUCATION INDICATORSMETHODOLOGYECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTCAPACITY BUILDINGCHILD MORTALITY RATESQUALITY EDUCATIONPOVERTYPOPULATION & DEMOGRAPHYGENDER ISSUESBASIC SERVICESENROLMENT RATIOURBANIZATIONMETHODOLOGICAL ASPECTSACCESS TO EDUCATIONADULT ILLITERACYADULT LITERACYADULT POPULATIONAGEDALLOCATION OF RESOURCESALTERNATIVE STRATEGYBASKET OF GOODSBENCHMARKSBEST PRACTICEBORROWINGBOUNDARIESBULLETINCAPACITY BUILDINGCENTRAL AMERICACHILD MORTALITYCHILD MORTALITY RATECOMMUNICABLE DISEASESCONSUMER PRICE INDEXDECISION MAKINGDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT STRATEGYDISABILITYDISCUSSIONDISEASESDISSEMINATIONDIVISION OF LABORDOCUMENTSECONOMETRICSECONOMIC FREEDOMECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC PERFORMANCEECONOMICSECONOMICS OF EDUCATIONECONOMICS RESEARCHECONOMIES OF SCALEEDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTEMPLOYMENTEMPOWERMENT OF WOMENENERGY CONSUMPTIONENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITYEXOGENOUS VARIABLESEXPECTED VALUEEXTREME POVERTYFINANCIAL MARKETSGDPGDP PER CAPITAGENDER DISPARITIESGENDER EQUALITYGOVERNMENT POLICIESGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTGROWTH RATEHEALTH CAREHEALTH CENTERSHEALTH INDICATORSHEALTH OUTCOMESHEALTH SERVICESHEALTH TARGETSHOSPITALHUMAN CAPITALILLITERACYILLITERACY RATEINCOMEINDUSTRIAL ECONOMICSINDUSTRIALIZATIONINEFFICIENCYINFANTINFANT MORTALITYINFANT MORTALITY RATEINFLATIONINFLATION RATEINNOVATIONINTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONSINVENTIONLABOR FORCELABOR MARKETLATIN AMERICANLEADINGLEARNINGLEGAL STATUSLEVELS OF EDUCATIONLIFE EXPECTANCYLOCAL CAPACITYMACROECONOMIC CONDITIONSMACROECONOMIC MANAGEMENTMACROECONOMIC POLICYMACROECONOMIC STABILITYMALARIAMATERNAL MORTALITYMATERNAL MORTALITY RATIOMATHEMATICSMAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD ESTIMATIONMEASLESMIDDLE EASTMILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALSMORTALITYNATIONAL GOVERNMENTSNATIONAL HEALTH SYSTEMSNATIONAL LEVELNEWBORNNORTH AFRICANUMBER OF CHILDRENNUMBER OF WORKERSOUTPUTSPOLICY IMPLICATIONSPOLICY RESEARCHPOOR INDIVIDUALSPOVERTY REDUCTIONPOVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIESPRICE CONTROLSPRIMARY SCHOOLPRIMARY SCHOOLINGPRIVATE DECISION MAKINGPRODUCTION FUNCTIONPRODUCTION FUNCTIONSPRODUCTION INPUTSPRODUCTION PROCESSPRODUCTIVITYPROGRESSPROMOTING GENDER EQUALITYPURCHASING POWERPURCHASING POWER PARITYRATES OF URBANIZATIONRATIO OF WOMENREAL GDPREAL GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTRESEARCH CENTERSRESPECTRETURNS TO SCALERULE OF LAWRURAL AREASSAFE DRINKING WATERSCHOOL AGESCHOOL ENROLMENTSECONDARY EDUCATIONSECONDARY ENROLMENTSECONDARY SCHOOLSSERVICE PROVIDERSSERVICE PROVISIONSKILLED HEALTH PERSONNELSOCIAL SCIENCESOCIAL SECTORSOCIAL SECTORSSUB-SAHARAN AFRICASUSTAINABLE ACCESSSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTTERTIARY EDUCATIONTRANSITION ECONOMIESUNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATIONURBAN AREASURBAN POPULATIONURBANIZATIONWESTERN EUROPEWorld Bank10.1596/978-0-8213-5538-1