Psacharopoulos, GeorgePatrinos, Harry Anthony2012-03-192012-03-192011-03-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3383Progress in educational development in the world since 1900 has been slow and uneven between countries. Providing basic education for all children in developing countries has been and remains an unmet challenge of governments and international organizations alike. This is in sharp contrast to recent findings in the economics literature on the catalytic role of human capital for economic growth and social development in general. Using a newly constructed matched data set on education and national accounts in the 1950 to 2010 period, this paper estimates the loss of income and equity associated with not having a faster rate of human capital accumulation, using alternative methodologies and specific country examples. Such loss is projected backward (1900-1950) and forward (2010-2050) using plausible assumptions regarding what countries could have done in the past or may do in the future to accelerate human capital formation. The findings suggest that the welfare loss in terms of per capita income conservatively ranges from about 7 to 10 percent. Improved educational attainment is also shown to have an effect in reducing income inequality.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO CAPITALADULTSAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITYAVERAGE LEVELBASIC EDUCATIONBENEFITS OF EDUCATIONBUSINESS CYCLESCAPITAL ACCUMULATIONCAPITAL THEORYCOGNITIVE SKILLSCOGNITIVE TESTCOMPARATIVE ECONOMICSCOMPULSORY EDUCATIONCOMPULSORY SCHOOLINGCOUNTRY CASECOUNTRY DATACOUNTRY INEQUALITYCOUNTRY LEVELCOUNTRY REGRESSIONSDATA QUALITYDEVELOPED COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT GOALSDEVELOPMENT POLICYDEVELOPMENT REPORTDIMINISHING RETURNSDISEQUILIBRIUMECONOMETRICSECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC HISTORIANSECONOMIC HISTORYECONOMIC LITERATUREECONOMIC PERFORMANCEECONOMIC STUDIESECONOMIC SURVEYSECONOMIC THEORYECONOMICSECONOMICS LETTERSECONOMICS LITERATUREECONOMICS OF EDUCATIONEDUCATED POPULATIONEDUCATED WORKERSEDUCATION ATTAINMENTEDUCATION DATAEDUCATION ECONOMICSEDUCATION EXPENDITUREEDUCATION FOR ALLEDUCATION POLICIESEDUCATION POLICYEDUCATION STATISTICSEDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTEDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTEDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCEEDUCATIONAL POLICIESEDUCATIONAL PROGRESSEDUCATORSEFFECTS OF EDUCATIONEMPIRICAL GROWTH LITERATUREEMPIRICAL LITERATUREENROLLMENT RATEENROLMENT RATIOENROLMENT STATISTICSERROR TERMEXTERNALITYFORMAL EDUCATIONGDPGDP PER CAPITAGENDER INEQUALITYGLOBAL EDUCATIONGROWTH RATEGROWTH RATESGROWTH REGRESSIONSGROWTH THEORIESGROWTH THEORYHIGH GROWTHHIGHER EDUCATIONHIGHER LITERACYHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN DEVELOPMENTHUMAN RIGHTSILLITERACYILLITERACY RATESIMPACT OF EDUCATIONINCOMEINCOME DATAINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME GROWTHINCOME INEQUALITYINCREASING RETURNSINDEPENDENT VARIABLEINEQUALITY DECLINESINFERIOR EDUCATIONINTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONSINVESTMENT IN EDUCATIONLABOR FORCELEVEL OF EDUCATIONLEVELS OF EDUCATIONLIQUIDITYLONG-RUN GROWTHLONG-TERM GROWTHLOW EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTLOWER LEVEL OF EDUCATIONMACROECONOMICSMARGINAL COSTMARGINAL RETURNSMICRO DATAMONETARY ECONOMICSMONETARY POLICIESNATIONAL ACCOUNTSNATIONAL INCOMENATIONAL OUTPUTNON-FORMAL EDUCATIONPER CAPITA INCOMEPOLICY RESEARCHPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOOR COUNTRIESPOSITIVE EXTERNALITIESPRIMARY EDUCATIONPRIMARY ENROLLMENTPRIMARY SCHOOLPRIMARY SCHOOL AGEPRIMARY SCHOOL AGE CHILDRENPRIMARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENTPRIMARY SCHOOLINGPRODUCTION FUNCTIONPRODUCTIVITYPUBLIC EXPENDITUREPUBLIC GOODPUBLIC POLICYREDUCTION OF ILLITERACYRETURNS TO EDUCATIONRICH COUNTRIESSCHOOL ENROLLMENTSCHOOL ENROLMENTSCHOOL GRADUATESCHOOL YEARSCHOOLINGSECONDARY SCHOOLSECONDARY SCHOOLINGSIGNIFICANT EFFECTSOCIAL BENEFITSSOCIAL DEVELOPMENTSOCIAL LEARNINGSOCIAL WELFARESTANDARD DEVIATIONTRADE POLICIESTUITIONUNDERESTIMATESUNEMPLOYMENTUNIVERSITIESUNIVERSITY EDUCATIONUTILITY FUNCTIONVOTERSWAGESWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5616