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In developing countries over the last two decades, the percent of schoolaged females enrolled in primary and secondary schools has increased from 38 percent to 78 percent (Women's International Network News, 1998). If female education is positively correlated with living standard measures, investing in female schooling may be one of the most efficient ways for developing countries to reduce poverty levels and improve lives. Because two-thirds of the world's nearly 1 billion illiterate adults are women, there may still be room for further substantial and positive effects.
Previous case studies have found that increased female education has a greater impact than increased male education on family welfare in developing countries (Brown, 1991). Increased female education has also been shown to be associated with lower fertility rates (Women's International Network News, 1993). Lower fertility rates axe significantly related to lower infant mortality rates (Gañí, 1999). Furthermore, there is evidence that higher female education leads to increased education levels for each successive generation (Bebrman et. al, 1999)
Are there measurable benefits associated with increased female educational attainment? In. this paper, we use a simple weighted least squares specification in a cross-sectional study of all non-OECD countries for which data is available to discern whether or not increased female literacy rates are positively related to other living standard measures. In the regressions, we hold male literacy rate and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita constant.
I. Data
One hundred forty-eight countries were selected for study. The variables used in the OLS analysis include GDP per capita, male literacy rate, female literacy rate, and six different living standard measures. Male land female literacy rates are from the CIA's publication "World Factbook 1998." All other variables are from the World Bank's publication "World Development Indicators 1999." Data are not available for all the relevant variables for all countries. Table 1 shows the mean and standard deviation for the variables used in the analysis.
For any given country, GDP is defined as the gross value of all resident and nonresident producers in the economy plus indirect taxes] less any subsidies not included in the value of the products. Male and female literacy rates refer to the percentage of men and women above the age of 15 who can read and...