Tropics, income, and school life expectancy: an intercountry study

Using UNESCO’s recent data, the effects of a country’s income and ‘tropicality’ on ‘school life expectancy’ are explored. While the effect of income is, as expected, positive and substantial, the distance from the equator, which is a measure of the country’s tropicality, is also important. Two additional points are noted. First, the effect of tropicality, relative to that of income, is larger in 1980 than for 1992. Second, since tropicality is likely to have a substantial effect on income, the true effect of the distance-variable may be considerably understated when it is included along with income. Several implications of the reported estimates are pointed out. [JEL I21, J24, O15]  1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.