Education and development projects in Brazil, 1932-2004: a critique
Abstract
The Second National Education Regulatory Framework (2ndLDB), enacted in 1971, changed the grade configuration of schooling levels in Brazil. This is change made it challengingto construct a validand reliable education spending data profilefor 20th century Brazil. Previous work on the economic history of education in Brazil used the data provided according to the thesis of Maduro (2007). Wjuniski (2013) used that database and ran structural break tests and concluded that the Brazilian government underinvested in the expansion of secondary education. However, Wjuniski did not consider problems concerning: (i) data reliability and (ii) the effects of the 2ndLDB on education expenditure data. This paper shows that data on education spending in Brazil does not allow us to assert that there was an underinvestment in secondary education from 1971 onwards.
JEL Classification: N36; I22; I25.
Keywords: Economic history education finance education spending political economy of education