This paper quantitatively shows that coffee export-led development in Colombia during the late 19th and mid-20th century reduced educational development of coffee growing areas. Between the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, Colombia was one of the leading coffee producers. The literature argues ...
(Show more)This paper quantitatively shows that coffee export-led development in Colombia during the late 19th and mid-20th century reduced educational development of coffee growing areas. Between the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, Colombia was one of the leading coffee producers. The literature argues that this agrarian export production provided resources which favored more subnational provision of education for coffee areas. However, in contrast to the mainstream literature, this article demonstrates that international booms in coffee prices reduced educational performance in the most important Colombian coffee areas, i.e., Caldas, Antioquia, and Cundinamarca. By using new information at the municipal level, the main article conclusion is that when coffee prices reached records between the 1920s and 1930s children stop attending school to work in coffee production reducing educational variables such as enrollment in primary schools and literacy rates. The finding, therefore, contributes to an extensive literature on the effects of export-led development in educational development.
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