Where Has All the Education Gone?

Cross-national data show no association between increases in human capital attributable to the rising educational attainment of the labor force and the rate of growth of output per worker. This implies that the association of educational capital gr...

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Main Author: Pritchett, Lant
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
en_US
Published: Washington, DC: World Bank 2014
Subjects:
GDP
TFP
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/09/17737514/all-education-gone
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17434
id okr-10986-17434
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-174342021-04-23T14:03:29Z Where Has All the Education Gone? Pritchett, Lant ACCOUNTING FRAMEWORK ADULT LITERACY AGGREGATE LEVEL AGGREGATE OUTPUT AGGREGATE PRODUCTION FUNCTION AGRICULTURE ARITHMETIC AVERAGE GROWTH AVERAGE INCOME AVERAGE LEVEL BASIC EDUCATION CAPITA INCOME CAPITAL ACCUMULATION CAPITAL STOCK CHILD SURVIVAL COGNITIVE SKILLS CONSTANT RETURNS CONSTANT RETURNS TO SCALE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM CONVERGENCE DEBATE CONVERGENCE HYPOTHESIS COUNTRY DATA DATA SETS DEPENDENT VARIABLE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPING COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT REPORT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY DISCOUNTED VALUE DISEQUILIBRIUM ECONOMIC COOPERATION ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC IMPACT ECONOMIC LIFE ECONOMIC LITERATURE ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMIC THEORY ECONOMICS ECONOMICS LETTERS ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION EDUCATED WORKERS EDUCATION EXPENDITURES EDUCATION INVESTMENTS EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT EMPIRICAL ESTIMATES EMPIRICAL RESULTS ENROLLMENT RATE ESTIMATED COEFFICIENT EXCHANGE RATE EXTERNALITY FACE VALUE FEMALE EDUCATION FUNCTIONAL FORM GDP GDP PER CAPITA GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT GROWTH ACCOUNTING GROWTH DEBATE GROWTH IMPACT GROWTH LITERATURE GROWTH MODEL GROWTH MODELS GROWTH OF DEMAND GROWTH PROSPECTS GROWTH RATE GROWTH RATES GROWTH REGRESSION GROWTH REGRESSIONS GROWTH THEORY HUMAN CAPITAL INCOME REDISTRIBUTION INDEPENDENT VARIABLE INDUSTRIALIZATION INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT INVENTORY LABOR FORCE LABOR MARKET LEARNING LIVING STANDARDS MARGINAL RETURN MARGINAL RETURNS MEAN INCOME MERIT GOOD MODERN ECONOMIC GROWTH MONETARY ECONOMICS NATIONAL ACCOUNTS NATIONAL INCOME NEGATIVE EFFECT NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES NEGATIVE IMPACT OPPORTUNITY COST OUTPUT GROWTH OUTPUT PER CAPITA OUTPUT RATIO PER CAPITA INCOME POINT ESTIMATE POLICY RESEARCH POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL INSTABILITY POSITIVE EXTERNALITIES PRIMARY EDUCATION PRIMARY ENROLLMENTS PRIMARY SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOLING PRODUCTION FUNCTION PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH PUBLIC ENTERPRISES PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SECTOR PUPIL RATIO RATE OF RETURN RATE OF RETURN TO CAPITAL READING REAL WAGES REASONING RELATIVE WAGE RENT SEEKING RETIREMENT RETURN TO EDUCATION RETURNS TO EDUCATION SCHOOL QUALITY SCHOOLING SCHOOLING QUALITY SCHOOLS SECONDARY ENROLLMENT SECONDARY ENROLLMENT RATES STANDARD DEVIATION STRUCTURAL BREAK TECHNICAL CHANGE TECHNICAL PROGRESS TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS TFP TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY TOTAL LABOR FORCE UNEMPLOYMENT Cross-national data show no association between increases in human capital attributable to the rising educational attainment of the labor force and the rate of growth of output per worker. This implies that the association of educational capital growth with conventional measures of total factor production is large, strongly statistically significant, and negative. These are 'on average' results, derived from imposing a constant coefficient. However, the development impact of education varied widely across countries and has fallen short of expectations for three possible reasons. First, the institutional/governance environment could have been sufficiently perverse that the accumulation of educational capital lowered economic growth. Second, marginal returns to education could have fallen rapidly as the supply of educated labor expanded while demand remained stagnant. Third, educational quality could have been so low that years of schooling created no human capital. The extent and mix of these three phenomena vary from country to country in explaining the actual economic impact of education, or the lack thereof. 2014-03-27T20:27:50Z 2014-03-27T20:27:50Z 2001-09 Journal Article http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/09/17737514/all-education-gone World Bank Economic Review http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17434 English en_US CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Publications & Research :: Journal Article
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic ACCOUNTING FRAMEWORK
ADULT LITERACY
AGGREGATE LEVEL
AGGREGATE OUTPUT
AGGREGATE PRODUCTION FUNCTION
AGRICULTURE
ARITHMETIC
AVERAGE GROWTH
AVERAGE INCOME
AVERAGE LEVEL
BASIC EDUCATION
CAPITA INCOME
CAPITAL ACCUMULATION
CAPITAL STOCK
CHILD SURVIVAL
COGNITIVE SKILLS
CONSTANT RETURNS
CONSTANT RETURNS TO SCALE
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
CONVERGENCE DEBATE
CONVERGENCE HYPOTHESIS
COUNTRY DATA
DATA SETS
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DEVELOPING COUNTRY
DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE
DEVELOPMENT REPORT
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
DISCOUNTED VALUE
DISEQUILIBRIUM
ECONOMIC COOPERATION
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ECONOMIC LIFE
ECONOMIC LITERATURE
ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE
ECONOMIC RESEARCH
ECONOMIC THEORY
ECONOMICS
ECONOMICS LETTERS
ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION
EDUCATED WORKERS
EDUCATION EXPENDITURES
EDUCATION INVESTMENTS
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
EMPIRICAL ESTIMATES
EMPIRICAL RESULTS
ENROLLMENT RATE
ESTIMATED COEFFICIENT
EXCHANGE RATE
EXTERNALITY
FACE VALUE
FEMALE EDUCATION
FUNCTIONAL FORM
GDP
GDP PER CAPITA
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT
GROWTH ACCOUNTING
GROWTH DEBATE
GROWTH IMPACT
GROWTH LITERATURE
GROWTH MODEL
GROWTH MODELS
GROWTH OF DEMAND
GROWTH PROSPECTS
GROWTH RATE
GROWTH RATES
GROWTH REGRESSION
GROWTH REGRESSIONS
GROWTH THEORY
HUMAN CAPITAL
INCOME REDISTRIBUTION
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
INDUSTRIALIZATION
INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
INVENTORY
LABOR FORCE
LABOR MARKET
LEARNING
LIVING STANDARDS
MARGINAL RETURN
MARGINAL RETURNS
MEAN INCOME
MERIT GOOD
MODERN ECONOMIC GROWTH
MONETARY ECONOMICS
NATIONAL ACCOUNTS
NATIONAL INCOME
NEGATIVE EFFECT
NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES
NEGATIVE IMPACT
OPPORTUNITY COST
OUTPUT GROWTH
OUTPUT PER CAPITA
OUTPUT RATIO
PER CAPITA INCOME
POINT ESTIMATE
POLICY RESEARCH
POLITICAL ECONOMY
POLITICAL INSTABILITY
POSITIVE EXTERNALITIES
PRIMARY EDUCATION
PRIMARY ENROLLMENTS
PRIMARY SCHOOL
PRIMARY SCHOOLING
PRODUCTION FUNCTION
PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS
PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH
PUBLIC ENTERPRISES
PUBLIC POLICY
PUBLIC SECTOR
PUPIL RATIO
RATE OF RETURN
RATE OF RETURN TO CAPITAL
READING
REAL WAGES
REASONING
RELATIVE WAGE
RENT SEEKING
RETIREMENT
RETURN TO EDUCATION
RETURNS TO EDUCATION
SCHOOL QUALITY
SCHOOLING
SCHOOLING QUALITY
SCHOOLS
SECONDARY ENROLLMENT
SECONDARY ENROLLMENT RATES
STANDARD DEVIATION
STRUCTURAL BREAK
TECHNICAL CHANGE
TECHNICAL PROGRESS
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS
TFP
TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY
TOTAL LABOR FORCE
UNEMPLOYMENT
spellingShingle ACCOUNTING FRAMEWORK
ADULT LITERACY
AGGREGATE LEVEL
AGGREGATE OUTPUT
AGGREGATE PRODUCTION FUNCTION
AGRICULTURE
ARITHMETIC
AVERAGE GROWTH
AVERAGE INCOME
AVERAGE LEVEL
BASIC EDUCATION
CAPITA INCOME
CAPITAL ACCUMULATION
CAPITAL STOCK
CHILD SURVIVAL
COGNITIVE SKILLS
CONSTANT RETURNS
CONSTANT RETURNS TO SCALE
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
CONVERGENCE DEBATE
CONVERGENCE HYPOTHESIS
COUNTRY DATA
DATA SETS
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DEVELOPING COUNTRY
DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE
DEVELOPMENT REPORT
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
DISCOUNTED VALUE
DISEQUILIBRIUM
ECONOMIC COOPERATION
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ECONOMIC LIFE
ECONOMIC LITERATURE
ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE
ECONOMIC RESEARCH
ECONOMIC THEORY
ECONOMICS
ECONOMICS LETTERS
ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION
EDUCATED WORKERS
EDUCATION EXPENDITURES
EDUCATION INVESTMENTS
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
EMPIRICAL ESTIMATES
EMPIRICAL RESULTS
ENROLLMENT RATE
ESTIMATED COEFFICIENT
EXCHANGE RATE
EXTERNALITY
FACE VALUE
FEMALE EDUCATION
FUNCTIONAL FORM
GDP
GDP PER CAPITA
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT
GROWTH ACCOUNTING
GROWTH DEBATE
GROWTH IMPACT
GROWTH LITERATURE
GROWTH MODEL
GROWTH MODELS
GROWTH OF DEMAND
GROWTH PROSPECTS
GROWTH RATE
GROWTH RATES
GROWTH REGRESSION
GROWTH REGRESSIONS
GROWTH THEORY
HUMAN CAPITAL
INCOME REDISTRIBUTION
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
INDUSTRIALIZATION
INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
INVENTORY
LABOR FORCE
LABOR MARKET
LEARNING
LIVING STANDARDS
MARGINAL RETURN
MARGINAL RETURNS
MEAN INCOME
MERIT GOOD
MODERN ECONOMIC GROWTH
MONETARY ECONOMICS
NATIONAL ACCOUNTS
NATIONAL INCOME
NEGATIVE EFFECT
NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES
NEGATIVE IMPACT
OPPORTUNITY COST
OUTPUT GROWTH
OUTPUT PER CAPITA
OUTPUT RATIO
PER CAPITA INCOME
POINT ESTIMATE
POLICY RESEARCH
POLITICAL ECONOMY
POLITICAL INSTABILITY
POSITIVE EXTERNALITIES
PRIMARY EDUCATION
PRIMARY ENROLLMENTS
PRIMARY SCHOOL
PRIMARY SCHOOLING
PRODUCTION FUNCTION
PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS
PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH
PUBLIC ENTERPRISES
PUBLIC POLICY
PUBLIC SECTOR
PUPIL RATIO
RATE OF RETURN
RATE OF RETURN TO CAPITAL
READING
REAL WAGES
REASONING
RELATIVE WAGE
RENT SEEKING
RETIREMENT
RETURN TO EDUCATION
RETURNS TO EDUCATION
SCHOOL QUALITY
SCHOOLING
SCHOOLING QUALITY
SCHOOLS
SECONDARY ENROLLMENT
SECONDARY ENROLLMENT RATES
STANDARD DEVIATION
STRUCTURAL BREAK
TECHNICAL CHANGE
TECHNICAL PROGRESS
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS
TFP
TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY
TOTAL LABOR FORCE
UNEMPLOYMENT
Pritchett, Lant
Where Has All the Education Gone?
description Cross-national data show no association between increases in human capital attributable to the rising educational attainment of the labor force and the rate of growth of output per worker. This implies that the association of educational capital growth with conventional measures of total factor production is large, strongly statistically significant, and negative. These are 'on average' results, derived from imposing a constant coefficient. However, the development impact of education varied widely across countries and has fallen short of expectations for three possible reasons. First, the institutional/governance environment could have been sufficiently perverse that the accumulation of educational capital lowered economic growth. Second, marginal returns to education could have fallen rapidly as the supply of educated labor expanded while demand remained stagnant. Third, educational quality could have been so low that years of schooling created no human capital. The extent and mix of these three phenomena vary from country to country in explaining the actual economic impact of education, or the lack thereof.
format Journal Article
author Pritchett, Lant
author_facet Pritchett, Lant
author_sort Pritchett, Lant
title Where Has All the Education Gone?
title_short Where Has All the Education Gone?
title_full Where Has All the Education Gone?
title_fullStr Where Has All the Education Gone?
title_full_unstemmed Where Has All the Education Gone?
title_sort where has all the education gone?
publisher Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate 2014
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/09/17737514/all-education-gone
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17434
_version_ 1764433134527447040