Equity in Educational Expenditures in The Middle East & North Africa

Educational policies affect access to schooling, and consequently, determine jobs and income, both of which in turn affect the distribution of income and wealth in the society. Therefore an equitable distribution of educational benefits is important. This study is concerned with equity in the distribution of benefits to the people who are being educated at different levels of education. These evaluations are performed using the figures for public spending for people passing through the school system at different levels. Familiar Gini coefficients are computed to evaluate the equity in the distribution of benefits by level of study. Comparable data are used to carry out computations for the Middle East and North African countries and for major regions of the world. Computations are done for 1980 and 1990 to observe changes over time. Individual MENA countries are evaluated from a regional perspective, compared to other regions of the world, and the change over the decade is evaluated. The results suggest that the tertiary level unit costs are substantially higher than at other levels, and there is substantial inequity in the distribution of public benefits among individuals exiting the educational system with different educational attainments.