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Introduction -- 1. The long-term benefits of education: Human capital, growth and poverty -- Microeconomic rationale for investing in education -- Does education provide a good safety net against the risk of poverty? -- Does poverty preclude from accessing quality education? -- 2. Impediments to access education for the poor: Supply of education to the poor -- Private costs of education for the poor -- Perceived benefits of education for the poor -- 3. Policy analisis: Is there a rationale for a public sector involvement in education? -- Where can resources to finance education come from? -- What is the sustainable level of expenditures in education? -- How to increase the efficiency of educational inputs? -- How to specifically address the access to education for the poor? -- Annexes

In Europe, and Central Asia, the poor faces three problems: 1) the education system as a whole does not work well, and hence fails to meet adequately their needs; 2) the private cost of education has gone up, so that " education " , as a commodity, competes with other consumption goods in shrinking household budgets; and, 3) the perceived benefits of education (in terms of higher wage earning) are still low, thereby undermining long-term incentives to invest in education. The paper shows the discrepancy between Central European, and Former Soviet Union countries in the contribution of " education " for explaining wage earnings inequality. The discrepancy can be explained by factors such as the degree of private sector development, and the flexibility of the labor market. Although there remains a " taste " for education in Europe and Central Asia, there is also a risk that low-income groups, drop out of the education system, and irreversibly fall into poverty.