Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- 1 The relevance of education
- 2 The demand for education
- 3 Liquidity constraints and access to education
- 4 The supply of education
- 5 Education financing
- 6 The return on education
- 7 Intergenerational persistence
- References
- Subject index
- Author index
1 - The relevance of education
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- 1 The relevance of education
- 2 The demand for education
- 3 Liquidity constraints and access to education
- 4 The supply of education
- 5 Education financing
- 6 The return on education
- 7 Intergenerational persistence
- References
- Subject index
- Author index
Summary
In many people's opinion it is the poor, not the rich, who are social parasites, the more benign version of which opinion adds that the poor lack the ability to be productive.
Arrow, Bowles and Durlauf (2000), Meritocracy and Economic Inequality (p. x)This is the crucial question. Since there are no overt forces of coercion, educational destinations have somehow to be reached through individual preferences and decisions, which leave one wondering how it comes about that what at a macro level takes the form of a partially reproductive pattern can, at the same time, be the results of decisions individually taken.
Gambetta (1987), Were They Pushed or Did They Jump? Individual Decision Mechanisms in Education (p. 2)We will start our investigation into the role of education in modern societies by reviewing some well-established facts. In the aftermath of the Second World War we observe a generalised rise in school attendance across the globe (see table 1.1). Enrolment rates (as defined by the ratio between the numbers enrolled at a given stage of education over the whole population in the same age cohort) rose in particular in the developing countries, reducing the education gap vis-à-vis the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, as witnessed by the coefficient of variation computed across countries.
Educational achievements rose quickly during the first two decades (the 1960s and the 1970s) but slowed down during the 1980s.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Economics of EducationHuman Capital, Family Background and Inequality, pp. 1 - 14Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006