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12 - Healthy, Literate, and Smart

The Global Increase in Human Capital

from Part II - Factors Governing Differential Outcomes in the Global Economy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2021

By
Latika Chaudhary  and
Peter Lindert
Edited by
Stephen Broadberry  and
Kyoji Fukao
Stephen Broadberry
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Kyoji Fukao
Affiliation:
Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo
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Summary

Impressive gains in global life expectancy and education from 1870 to 2010 are documented. Life expectancy increased from thirty years in 1870 to seventy-one years in 2010, while an increasing number of children have attended schools and acquired formal education. The key factors responsible for these improvements are identified. Although economic growth and development increased worldwide, income has never been the main driver of life expectancy. Rather, the gains in survival came from public health efforts, medical innovations, and expanding public education. While income and schooling are no doubt positively related, the role of public funds in increasing mass education is also highlighted. The high economic returns to education are documented and then an explanation sought for why the whole world is not more educated, given the large economic returns to education. The divergence in income per capita across the world is contrasted with the relative convergence in human capital.

Keywords

Life expectancyhealthrise of educationreturns to educationmass education.
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World , pp. 329 - 355
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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