In the last decades, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced a dramatic increase in the levels of higher education enrollment. Using administrative data from Chile and Colombia, we find that this phenomenon is not always associated with higher private individual returns. In both countries, there is a significant dispersion in the net returns to higher education and a significant proportion of graduates could be facing negative returns.

The paper analyzes a new Honduran conditional cash transfer experiment (Bono 10,000) in which 150 poor villages (of 300) were treated. The transfers were much larger in size than an earlier experiment (Galiani & McEwan, 2013), but yielded smaller full-sample effects on school enrollment, child labor participation, and measures of health service use.

Climate change poses new hazards to schools and heightens preexisting ones. Every day we hear news of some community in the world being adversely affected by natural phenomena such as excess water (floods, landslides), extreme winds, or drought. Such events may leave communities without access to a reliable supply of drinking water, create conditions conducive to the spread of fires, force school closures, and affect the economy. Schools mirror their communities.