Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/70448 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
CAE Working Paper No. 08-04
Publisher: 
Cornell University, Center for Analytical Economics (CAE), Ithaca, NY
Abstract: 
It can be argued that just as there are different kinds of literacy, there are different kinds of illiteracy. A proximate illiterate, i.e. an illiterate who has easy access to a literate person, is clearly better off than someone without such access. The existing literature that takes account of these differences (1) defines an illiterate person to be a proximate illiterate if he or she lives in a household with at least one literate person and (2) derives new measures of literacy which typically exceed the standard literacy rate. The latter risks generating policy complacency. The aim of this paper is to suggest a measure of literacy that is not limited by (1) and (2). The measure is axiomatically characterized and its use is illustrated with a numerical exercise for the provinces of South Africa.
Subjects: 
literacy
education
inequality
isolation
JEL: 
I2
I3
O15
O2
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
245.96 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.