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Homeland
Peter Orazem's work with the World Bank has taken him all over the
world, including a country that holds special significance to his family.
Peter Orazem has always been interested in Slovakia.
His parents were from that Central European country and Orazem grew up speaking
Slovenian at home.
So when Milan Vodepivec of the World Bank asked Orazem to participate in
an analysis of the Slovenian labor market in transition after the fall of
Communism, he jumped at the opportunity.
"I can't begin to tell you how proud my father was," Orazem said,
"especially since he and my mother fled Slovakia to escape Communism
and here I am, a son of refugees, working on a project that would analyze
that country's transition to a market economy."
It was also just the beginning of Orazem's work as a consultant with the
World Bank, whose mission is to provide technical and financial assistance
to developing countries to help them grow.
"The World Bank provides loans to developing countries at favorable
rates for a variety of infrastructure projects including roads, sanitation,
waterways and educational projects," said Orazem, professor of economics.
Now his father cannot only be proud of Orazem's work in the old country,
but on projects and research that stretch from Europe and Asia to South
America.
Some of those projects include studies of how the transition to a market
economy affected earnings in Estonia, another country in the former Soviet
bloc, and education project designs in both Colombia and Pakistan.
Orazem's work in Pakistan has been among his most extensive. He has traveled
to that country four times and his work with other researchers has demonstrated
the feasibility of using private schools to increase educational services
to the poor; problems associated with the use of mandatory promotion policies
as a mechanism to keep children in school; and the interrelationship between
teacher and student attendance.
"The world completely changes when you go to Pakistan," he said.
"It's a completely different culture where the people are very, very
poor. Most of the time we weren't allowed to travel without a military escort."
Pakistan has had an annual population growth rate of about seven percent,
about half of which has been refugees of other countries. The literacy rate
is extremely low and even lower for girls than boys. In poor neighborhoods
and slums, the public educational system was almost nonexistent.
"The World Bank had a particular interest in improving education levels
for girls," Orazem said. "My project looked at how to get private
schools to open in the slums at a time when the government had no money
and corruption was rampant.
"Not only were we interested in seeing if the private sector would
respond, but also would parents send their kids to these schools? And would
it also be economically feasible to open a private school as opposed to
starting a government school."
Orazem's findings were positive on all fronts. The cost of opening a private
school was one-fourth the cost of opening a government school. A large number
of girls attended and the neighborhood schools became a source of pride
for the communities.
"The kids also did at least as well in the private schools as they
did in the government's schools," he said. "Now there are hundreds
of new private schools in Pakistan based along the same lines of the original
study." 
Around LAS
February 11-24, 2002
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