THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF EDUCATION: Studies in the Economics of Education (The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics series) - Hardcover

`If you are one of the growing number of academics interested in the economics of education then you should read this book. . .' -- Geraint Jones, The Economic Journal `Comprehensive and balanced, this anthology includes all important aspects of the economics of education. An important addition to the economics literature this volume could be fruitfully used by the advanced undergraduates and graduate students, faculty, and professionals specializing in labor, economic development and growth, or education.' -- C.J. Talele, Choice

This important reference collection - prepared by a leading authority in the field - presents a careful selection of the most important articles and papers in the economics of education. It focuses in particular on the notion of education as investment rather than consumption. This field was pioneered by three American scholars - Jacob Mincer, Gary Becker and Theodore Schultz - who demonstrated that education is indeed a way in which individuals can invest in themselves in the simple sense of incurring financial costs today in order to enhance potential earnings tomorrow. There is a very strong association between education and earnings in the labour markets in both capitalist and communist countries and it is this generalisation that forms the bedrock of the doctrine of education as human capital. This major book provides testimony to the excitement and controversy that continue to be hallmarks of the economics of education and the theory of human capital.