Abstract for: Coordination Failures in Complex Environments: A Model for Primary Education Systems in Developing Countries

This article aims at improving our understanding of the processes influencing achievement in primary education systems. We do so using a dynamic simulation model that incorporates local idiosyncratic complexities such as positive feedbacks and nonlinear coordinated interactions between key variables like aggregate human capital and their effects on the efficiency and vulnerability of primary education systems in developing countries. We perform a number of experiments which offer valuable insights to understand the long-term impact of large-scale events on the system’s steady-state equilibrium and suggest institutional structures and social norms that may promote a sustainable transition toward achieving universal primary education.