There is little evidence that more education leads to greater national prosperity.

by Rishi Sun Mar 24, 2013 6:42 pm

Consider a few counter-intuitive facts that heterodox economist Ha-Joon Chang points out in his latest book 23 Things They Didn’t Tell You About Capitalism. In 1960, Taiwan had a lower literacy rate (54 percent) and half per capita income ($200) than the Philippines (72 percent and $122). Today, Taiwan has ten times the income of the Philippines ($18,000 versus $1,800). Similarly, South Korea had a lower literacy rate (71 percent) and per capita income ($82) than Argentina in 1960 (91 percent and $378). Today, South Korea’s per capita income is three times higher ($21,000 versus $7,000). Chang also points out that between 1980 and 2004 literacy rates in Sub-Sahara African counties rose from 40 to 61 percent while per capita income fell by .3 percent per year during the same stretch of time. “There is remarkably little evidence” he concludes, “… that more education leads to greater national prosperity.”

http://bigthink.com/insights-of-genius/we-dont-need-no-education

by Guest Sun Mar 24, 2013 7:09 pm

education is a bit different from literacy. that said, did he discuss other factors impacting country's growth? other than literacy rate, what else was different between taiwan and philippines?

by Kris Sun Mar 24, 2013 7:19 pm

[quote="Rishi"]Consider a few counter-intuitive facts that heterodox economist Ha-Joon Chang points out in his latest book 23 Things They Didn’t Tell You About Capitalism. In 1960, Taiwan had a lower literacy rate (54 percent) and half per capita income ($200) than the Philippines (72 percent and $122). Today, Taiwan has ten times the income of the Philippines ($18,000 versus $1,800). Similarly, South Korea had a lower literacy rate (71 percent) and per capita income ($82) than Argentina in 1960 (91 percent and $378). Today, South Korea’s per capita income is three times higher ($21,000 versus $7,000). Chang also points out that between 1980 and 2004 literacy rates in Sub-Sahara African counties rose from 40 to 61 percent while per capita income fell by .3 percent per year during the same stretch of time. “There is remarkably little evidence” he concludes, “… that more education leads to greater national prosperity.”

http://bigthink.com/insights-of-genius/we-dont-need-no-education[/quote]

>>>>Interesting article. Thanks for posting. I see 'college education' being discussed here and often in toher places as some elitist pursuit of knowledge, which is often esoteric and lacks direct application. That could well be true in many cases, but dissing college education altogether is throwing the baby out with the bath water. If we think about logically, skills are a must and can well be a subset of a broader education. The skill gets you a job, the education enriches your life. I find the american system at the undergrad level being modeled on this, with a GE component and a major component. The idea should be to finetune it by requiring even the esoteric majors to pick up a practical skill, rather than to throw in the towel. Incidentally, the examples of Philipines vs. Taiwan and South Korea vs. Argentina are straw man arguments. I don't know if anyone has ever argued that increasing the literacy rates by itself would be a panacea. That leaves out crucial causes like the culture's work ethic, the stability and sincerity in governance and the presence of a positive, viable long term vision of the leadership. In the examples cited, that would account for the rapid growth of S.Korea and Taiwan compared to their competitors.

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There is little evidence that more education leads to greater national prosperity.

There is little evidence that more education leads to greater national prosperity.

Re: There is little evidence that more education leads to greater national prosperity.

Re: There is little evidence that more education leads to greater national prosperity.

Re: There is little evidence that more education leads to greater national prosperity.