In poor countries technology can make big improvements to education
&gt; Paying teachers more is not likely to improve the situation. As research by Justin Sandefur of the Centre for Global Development shows, poor-country teachers tend to be remarkably well-paid, by local standards (see chart). And evidence from countries as diverse as Indonesia and Pakistan suggests that teachers’ pay levels have little impact on learning.<p>Is it at all reasonable to use units of GDP to compare salaries? That doesn’t seem right to me. The US GDP per capita in USD is about $60k. The Ethiopia GDP per capita in USD is less than $800. The only way to claim that teachers are “remarkably well-paid” by using units of GDP, while in reality 7 * GDP &#x2F; person in Ethiopia (about $5,400 per year) is not enough to buy food or pay rent.<p>If the cost of living in Ethiopia were 1% of the cost of living in the US, then teachers would be better off. But the cost of living there is only slightly lower, so teachers’ buying power there is a tiny fraction of what it is here. They’re getting a lot less than our minimum wage in <i>relative</i> dollars.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.numbeo.com&#x2F;cost-of-living&#x2F;country_result.jsp?country=Ethiopia" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.numbeo.com&#x2F;cost-of-living&#x2F;country_result.jsp?cou...</a>