Education and Economic Power: Why Schooling Remains the Most Important Development Policy

Abstract

This publication is an independent scholarly policy commentary examining the relationship between education, human capital formation and long-term economic development. It argues that the developmental value of education depends not simply on access to schooling, but on the ability of education systems to convert access into learning, learning into human capability and human capability into productive economic and social participation. Drawing on global evidence and selected cases from Malawi, South Korea and Finland, the publication examines educational access, learning poverty, institutional capacity, teachers, education spending and the relationship between human capital and structural transformation. The publication forms part of the Development, Education and Human Capital Research Series, an independent series exploring education policy, development economics, human capital and structural transformation.