Special Events:
David N. Kershaw Award: What Does Education Do?
Address Description:
One of the most robust findings in social science is that education pays. Hundreds of studies have demonstrated the impact of education on earnings, health, family formation, civic participation, happiness and other life outcomes. This has led researchers and policymakers to call for a renewal and expansion of public investment in higher education, for example through “free college” plans proposed in many U.S. states.
Yet despite the demonstrated economic value of education, we have varying ideas about why education is so important. This talk will review what is known about the returns to education, and argue that the workhorse “human capital model” is an incomplete description of the value of education for social mobility and human welfare. Understanding what education does is necessary for important policy questions such as who will gain the most from investments in education, which policy levers are most effective, and how we should design educational systems for the future of work in the 21st century.
