The Role of Education Quality for Economic Growth

Hanushek, Eric A. ; Woessmann, Ludger

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT;    ACHIEVEMENT SCORES;    ACHIEVEMENT TESTS;    ADULT LEARNING;    ADULT LITERACY;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4122
RP-ID  :  WPS4122

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The role of improved schooling, acentral part of most development strategies, has becomecontroversial because expansion of school attainment has notguaranteed improved economic conditions. This paper reviewsthe role of education in promoting economic well-being,focusing on the role of educational quality. It concludesthat there is strong evidence that the cognitive skills ofthe population-rather than mere school attainment-arepowerfully related to individual earnings, to thedistribution of income, and to economic growth. Newempirical results show the importance of both minimal andhigh-level skills, the complementarity of skills and thequality of economic institutions, and the robustness of therelationship between skills and growth. Internationalcomparisons incorporating expanded data on cognitive skillsreveal much larger skill deficits in developing countriesthan generally derived from just school enrollment andattainment. The magnitude of change needed makes it clearthat closing the economic gap with industrial countries willrequire major structural changes in schooling institutions.