Assessing the Economic Returns to Investing in Youth in Developing Countries
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 requiri...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/03/3548766/assessing-economic-returns-investing-youth-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13763 |
| Summary: | 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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