Literature Review: Latin American Human Capital Development in the Very Long RunDevelopment in the Very Long Run

What does the previous literature reveal about Latin American numeracy and education?

There is some information about number systems in the ancient Indian cultures. The Mayas used a vigesimal number system represented by bars and dots. They measured time intervals by tuns (periods of 360 days), winals (periods of 20 days) and k'ins (days) (Closs 2002, p.143). The Aztecs combined simple numbers to display larger ones. In the Aztec number system, 399 is, for instance, represented by (15+4) x 20+15+4 (Conant

10An advantage of this method is to spread the preferred ages, such as 25 or 30, more evenly within the age groups and it adjusts also for the fact that more people will be alive at age 50 than at age 54 or at age 55 than at age 59 (Crayen and Baten 2009).

11Given that young adults aged 23 to 32 round partly on multiples of two rather than ve, we use the adjustment method suggested by Crayen and Baten (2009) to increase the Whipple value (minus 100) by 24 percent, before calculating the ABCC measure.

1923, p. 83). The Incas used a technique called quipo to record numerical information without writing. Knots in strings represented numbers and allowed a sophisticated admin-istration of the Inca Empire, including population counts (Julien 1988). Thus, although other indigenous tribes lacked numerical concepts, numbers and dates in general were not uncommon in Latin America before the discovery.

During the colonial period, schooling was seen as a method to "civilize" the native elites, reduce indigenous customs, and spread the Catholic religion. Education was in the hands of dierent religious orders, mostly the Jesuits, but also some Franciscans and Dominicans (Leininger Pycior 1984). Schools were rare in colonial Latin America, especially before the 19^th century. Moreover, education was mainly provided to the European elite or the sons of the caciques (Bakewell 2004, p. 90) and took place almost exclusively in Spanish.

After independence, enforcement and nancing of schools was often placed in the hands of the municipalities, which resulted in strong regional disparities. Prosperous regions and cities usually had a higher coverage of schools than the rural areas (Vaughan 1990). Com-pulsory primary education was theoretically introduced over the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, although not reinforced consistently. Schools were poorly endowed and the teachers not well educated (Meyer Loy 1971). One reason for the decelerated develop-ment of schooling institutions is often seen to be in the resistance of the ruling elite to nance public schools. Leaving most parts of the population uneducated reinforced their leading position in politics (Mariscal and Sokolo 2000). Lindert (2004, p.87) has called primary public education '…the kind of education that involves the greatest shift of re-sources from upper income groups to the poor.' He discusses a number of positive and negative inuences on the decision to introduce large-scale tax-nanced universal primary schooling. The rural elite were especially afraid of mass migration of rural workers to the cities (Morse 1974). From the point of view of a member of the landed elite, why should one sacrice via taxation a large proportion of one's income for the schooling of poor day-laborers who mainly performed manual tasks on one's estate? And even if there had been a willingness to sacrice that income, would not more educated laborers have been a threat to the landed elite?

Statistics on the development of education in the New World are rare. The Oxford Latin American economic history database lists only literacy data for the second half of the 20^th century. Earlier literacy estimates exist for selected countries (Newland 1994, Engerman, Haber, and Sokolo 2000, Astorga, Bérges, and FitzGerald 2005), even though Javier Núñez (2005) criticises the estimates for the period around 1900. He argues that there was a lack of comparability between dierent denitions of literacy due to the fact that censuses have been taken in dierent years and referred to dierent population segments. Moreover, denitions of literacy varied among countries. While some dened literacy merely as "being able to read", others only considered people that were "able to read and write". To overcome this problem, Núñez suggests combining literacy data from population censuses with a measure of signature ability using marriage registrations, or with literacy statements in crime statistics. This methodology allows him to reestimate literacy rates for the turn of the 20^th century for a number of Latin American countries.

He nds poor literacy development for Brazil in the rst half of the 20^th century, which he explains with the fact that Brazil abolished compulsory primary education in 1891 and reintroduced it only in 1934 under the rule of Getúlio Vargas.

For the late 19^thand early 20^thcenturies, Benavot and Riddle (1988) assessed school en-rolment rates for an impressive number of countries. Their data show a moderate increase in primary school enrolment for Latin American countries, and was more pronounced in the urbanized countries with a high share of European immigrants like Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, as well as in the British colonies of the Caribbean.

During the 20^thcentury, strong dierences remained among countries. Astorga, Bérges, and FitzGerald (2005) estimate the share of literates older than 15 years in the LA6 countries, i.e., Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela, at 33% in 1900, 60% in 1950, and 89% in 2000.¹² For the remaining Latin American countries, literacy rates are at 32% in 1920, 46% in 1950, and 82% in 2000. Moreover, the main improvement in literacy took place during the period from 1900 to 1939 for the LA6, but only from 1940 to 1980 for the remaining countries.

12Cuba is excluded.

European immigration was a decisive factor for the development of education in Latin America. Clara Eugenia Núñez (1993) distinguishes two types of Latin American coun-tries - those with a high share of indigenous population, and those with a high share of European immigrants, such as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Cuba. Immigrants to these countries had a positive impact on the promotion of education.¹³ They also provided teachers (Thorp 1998, p. 37). In general, Núñez (1993) argues, educational development in Latin America was only delayed three or four decades, compared with Italy or Spain.

But it was not only retarded by the lack of nancial resources and the hesitating attitude of the elite, but probably also by the Independence Wars. During the early 19^th century, the newly independent countries suered from political instability along with the negative consequences for trade and capital ight (Haber and Klein 1997); therefore, it is not sur-prising that the independence conicts had negative side eects for most Latin American countries. We will assess this question below.

Manzel and Baten (2009) estimate the dierential between male and female age heaping for Latin American and Caribbean countries after the 1880s as well as the average levels, but they do not cover the early history. In sum, several (mostly qualitative) studies on Latin American educational development exist, but comparable estimates of human capital measures are missing and these would be necessary to trace the development over a long-term period.