The differences in grades among primary students according to their poverty situation: Decomposition analysis for 17 countries of Latin America and Caribbean

Abstract

This paper describes one of the ways in which poverty and economic inequality is reproduced in Latin America. This study analyzed certain mechanisms of educational social exclusion among children attending the sixth grade of the primary education in 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The study shows the intergenerational transmission of poverty and inequality through education is one of the mechanisms that slow convergence towards decent living standards, while uncovering one of the many processes of the violation of rights of children contemplated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. On the other hand, this study seeks to identify relevant variables to enumerate public policy actions, such as Conditional Transfer Programs aimed at breaking the cycle of–or reducing the intensity of–the reproduction of the poverty and the inequality. To this end, the conditioning opportunities are distinguished (called "endowments") from those that operate independently, so that identical opportunities generate different results.