Pii: S0305-750x(00)00065-6

Ð This paper analyzes public spending on education in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia over recent years, with a particular focus upon primary schooling. It identi®es regional expenditure trends since 1980, and provides more detailed comparative data for selected countries during 1990±95. It shows that the achievement of high enrollment ratios has been associated not only with high priority being assigned to public expenditures on primary schooling, but also with the presence of modest unit costs of schooling. The paper argues that schooling for all is achievable, even in countries which are among the poorest, and where school enrollments are presently very low, provided governments are willing to reform both the private and public costs and eciency of school systems, and to give expenditures on primary schooling their proper priority. Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.