Human capital investment in agricultural communities: lessons from Honduras

A recent paper by Bedi and Gaston, in estimating the returns to endogenous education in Honduras, examined the determinants of educational attainment through the use of official government statistics. This letter seeks to cor roborate their findings using independently collected data and a wider sele ction of explanatory variables. A binary legit function is estimated using a sample of 424 rural-based individuals who have completed secondary school ing. Results, which indicate the predominance of economic factors (income a nd wealth) over social factors (gender, household structure, relationship w ith, or membership of, rural-based organizations) in the educational invest ment decision, offer some qualified support to the findings of Bedi and Gas ton.