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The role of teachers and the learning environment in academic achievement of Costa Rican students: An analysis from PISAA pesar de que la literatura ha señalado que la calidad del profesorado y el ambiente escolar son factores clave en el rendimiento académico, los estudios que cuantifican empíricamente en qué medida contribuyen al desempeño estudiantil en los países latinoamericanos son escasos. En este artículo, utilizamos datos de PISA-Costa Rica y la técnica de descomposición Shapley-Shorrocks para cuantificar qué porcentaje de la variabilidad de los resultados escolares puede ser explicada por el profesorado y el entorno de aprendizaje. Los resultados muestran que la mayor parte de las diferencias en notas se debe al esfuerzo de cada estudiante (parte no explicada por la función de producción educativa). Del resto de factores, las características de la escuela y del profesor explican más variabilidad en rendimiento (36% para el promedio de Matemáticas, Lectura y Ciencias) que el efecto conjunto de las circunstancias individuales y familiares (12,5%). Dentro de los factores de escuela, dos elementos tendrían especial relevancia. Por un lado, el comportamiento de los alumnos, destacando los problemas de absentismo e impuntualidad. Por otro, el nivel de autonomía del profesorado y la dirección de la escuela en el diseño de los planes de estudio y las evaluaciones.

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This paper investigates peer effects in the academic achievement of Costa Rican students. Two measures of peer effects are used: (1) a measure of a schools’ average socioeconomic status and (2) a measure of unsatisfied basic needs at district level. The estimation of a three-level hierarchical model allows us to deal with selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity. Results show that socioeconomic peer effect, both at school and district levels, positively and significantly correlates with academic achievement. An increase in one standard deviation in the socioeconomic index has the same effect on academic achievement as an additional year of schooling; two years if the improvement occurs in the index of unsatisfied basic needs. These results are robust for mathematics, reading and science. Results from quantile regression reveal that students with high academic achievement take greater advantages from studying in schools with higher socioeconomic status (mathematics and reading). Meanwhile, students with low academic achievement are the most affected by studying in poorer districts (mathematics and science).These results show the strong feedback between educational and social inequity and constitute a good example of how poverty traps can persist in developing countries.

This article focuses on the effect of urbanization on violent crime – particularly homicide in Costa Rica. Although violence is a major problem throughout Latin America, few empirical studies carried out in the area use high-quality socioeconomic and crime databases with a high level of geographical disaggregation. In this article, we employ data from all 473 districts of Costa Rica between 2010 and 2013. We develop a model which takes into account endogeneity problems and uses contrasts of marginal linear predictions. We conclude that the degree of urban concentration plays a key role in explaining homicide rates, other things being equal. This effect is progressive: the greater the urban concentration, the greater the increase in homicide rates. This causal relationship is not observed in offenses other than homicide.