Introduction Overview Section I. Background and setting Chapter One - Education in Brazil: playing a bad hand badly Chapter Two - Where does Brazil fit ? Schooling investments in an international perspective Chapter Three - Education and economic growth: some cross-sectional evidence Chapter four - Why Brazil lags behind in educational development Section II. Education and earnings Chapter five - Wages, schooling and background: investments in men and women in urban Brazil Chapter Six - Temporal evolution of the relationship between wages and education of Brazilian Men Chapter Seven - Do returns to schooling vary across industries ? Chapter eight - The quality of schooling and labor market outcomes Section III. Education and inequality Chapter Nine - Educational expansion and the inequality of pay in Brazil and Korea Chapter ten - Social mobility: the role of education in determining status Chapter Eleven - Education, mobility and growth Chapter Twelve - Income and educational inequality and children's schooling attaintment Chapter Thirteen - Family background, quality of education and public and private schools: effects on school transitions Section IV. Educational policy issues Chapter fourteen - Efficiency-enhancing investments in school quality Chapter Fifteen - The causes and effects of grade repetition Chapter sixteen - Private education and public regulation Chapter Seventeen - Dealing with poor students Chapter eighteen - the economics of higher education