Reissued as Ebook
This framework for policy analysis of selection policies considers dimensions of efficiency, representation (equity), and incentives. Includes detailed case studies of China, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
Author: Robert Klitgaard
Year: 1986 / reissued 2025
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press; reissued as Kindle ebook
Topics: Elitism, Meritocracy, Selection Policy, Education Policy, Development, Equity
About This Book
How should developing countries select their elites? Through competitive examinations? Affirmative action? Regional quotas? Family connections? The answer matters enormously — for economic growth, social equity, and political stability. First published in 1986 and long out of print, Elitism and Meritocracy in Developing Countries remains one of the most rigorous and wide-ranging examinations of elite selection policy ever written. Drawing on case studies from China, the Philippines, and Indonesia, Klitgaard analyzes the tradeoffs between efficiency and equity in higher education admissions and civil service recruitment. Reissued as a Kindle ebook in February 2025 -a newly accessible to a generation of scholars and policymakers for whom it was previously unavailable.
Praise
“Klitgaard implicitly argues that higher education is selective and elitist in its very nature and that selection occurs in every country, regardless of ideology or economics system. His plea is that the process be rational and that those setting policy fully understand the implications of what they do. His book has many lessons not only for the Third World but for the debates about access to higher education, the process of testing, and related matters in all countries.”
Educational Studies
“This is an important book and an interdisciplinary one, drawing on psychometrics, economics and public policy analysis. It will be of use to all those involved in higher education, especially those given the difficult task of allocating life chances. It should definitely be read by economists of education. From a psychologist’s point of view it is gratifying to find issues of individual human development and motivation taken on board alongside issues of economics and public policy.”
Journal of Development Studies
“He not only provides evidence that, indeed, widening representation will lower standards, but also, and more importantly, he provides techniques to calculate the worsening. Put in another way, if it considered that social justice requires a greater participation by underrepresented groups, we now have methods with which to calculate its academic and financial costs… The statistical methods offered are probably the major contribution of the book…
These are all very important arguments, and it is unfortunate that the title of the book suggests that its concerns lie exclusively with ‘developing countries.’ On the contrary, they are of much more general application…”
Higher Education
Related Work
Related themes: Elitism & Meritocracy | Education Policy
Related books: Choosing Elites | Policy Analysis for Big Issues