Living Standards Measurement Study No. 107. Lost investment opportunities for society and the inefficient provision of public schooling are just some of the reasons why developing countries are concerned with low school completion rates. This study

This volume assesses the evidence, and possible mechanisms, for the associations between women's education, fertility preferences, and fertility in developing countries, and how these associations vary across regions. It discusses the implications of these associations for policies in the population, health, and education sectors, including implications for research.

In September 2001, staff from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund met with the objective of strengthening collaboration between the two organizations in projects of civil service reform. This strengthened collaboration will have key benefits in ensuring consistency between the conflicting goals of the two organizations, establishing realistic objectives within the reform process, and maintaining a core set of wage and employment data. The principal conclusion arrived at was that World Bank and IMF staff should be engaging in collaboration earlier in the reform process. To guide the collaboration, six foundations were identified. These include: develop a medium-term fiscal framework; foster national ownership by making reforms politically feasible; focus and streamline conditionality; agree on sequencing and timing of reforms; and strengthen data collection. These principals will be tested for effectiveness in several focus countries.

As part of the restructuring of the educational system in 1989, the Vietnamese government implemented policy changes such as promoting the establishment of "people's" and community educational institutions, permitting the establishment of private institutions and transforming public institutions into private ones. Since Vietnam has only recently moved from a centrally planned to a market economy, private schools are still relatively rare in Vietnam. This paper examines the nature of private schooling in Vietnam using data from the 1992-93 Vietnam Living Standards Survey.