Educational Expansion: Evidence and Interpretation

Abstract:     
Gradstein and Nikitin document the vast expansion of schooling over the past several decades, as well as convergence in schooling measures across countries. They make the observation that poor countries today have higher average education levels than countries at the same level of economic development had in the past. They propose a simple model that suggests that these trends can be attributed to the intertemporal expansion of the world technological frontier, which enhances the demand for schooling. Their empirical analysis supports the view that educational expansion has occurred because of the increase in demand, especially in open economies, and not because of cost-reducing improvements in the education sector.

This paper - a product of Public Services, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to study education expansion.

Working Paper Series