Education is one of the most importantdeterminants of economic performance in the modern world.This is true of both countries and individuals. The maincharacteristic which distinguishes between advancedeconomies, middle-income economies and low-income countries,is the knowledge content of their production activities andprocesses. Economic activities and products have becomeincreasingly knowledge and skill-intensive in recent years.In addition, the importance of knowledge and skills isgrowing at an accelerating pace. Education is at the heartof human capital accumulation and economic growth. Educationincreases cognitive skills and soft skills of individuals.In addition, education improves the capacity of individualsto be trained for specific occupations and to acquirejob-related skills. These effects of education enableindividuals to accumulate human capital, improve laborproductivity and increase life-cycle earnings. In theaggregate, this process generates economic growth.Investment in education produces a broad range of socialbenefits. Well-educated individuals, especially women, arebetter able to control their fertility and family health,resulting in reduced child, infant and maternal mortality,and higher life expectancy. Education also facilitatessocial mobility by creating opportunities for poor anddisadvantaged groups to raise their economic and socialstatus. A broad range of further externality benefits ofeducation have been identified in the economic literature.These cover aspects of social well-being such as betterpolitical decision making, reduced incidence of crime, andhigher quality public services. Education also producesinter-generational economic and social benefits: increasededucation in one generation improves schooling, laborproductivity and income in the next. The public goods,informational imperfections and distributive justice aspectsof education provide the economic justification for stateinvestment in the education sector.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
