How sensitive is the demand for primary education to changes in economic factors?

During the recession in the 1970s and 1980 in less-developed countries in g eneral and in Zambia in specific, private costs of schooling in creased and school quality deteriorated. Combined with poverty, these changes may have damaged the demand for primary education. This observation motivated a stu dy of the relationship between economic variables and the demand for primar y education. A binary choice model for the school enrolment decision is est imated, and the relevance of economic incentives concerning the decision to enrol in school is tested directly. Economic incentives to enrol in school are reflected in household income, educational expenses and quality indica tors, and the results show that they all affect school enrolment as expect, even though the magnitudes of the effects are relatively moderate.