The race between education and technology / Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goldin, Claudia Dale.

Contributor:

Katz, Lawrence F.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Education--Economic aspects--United States.

Education.

Economic development--Effect of education on--United States.

Economic development.

Education--Effect of technological innovations on--United States.

Human capital--United States.

Human capital.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (496 p. ) ill.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This work provides an historical analysis of the coevolution of educational attainment and the wage structure of the US through the 20th century. The authors propose that the 20th century was not only the American century, but also the century of human capital. That is, her educational system made America the richest nation on earth.

This book provides a careful historical analysis of the co-evolution of educational attainment and the wage structure in the United States through the twentieth century. The authors propose that the twentieth century was not only the American Century but also the Human Capital Century. That is, the American educational system is what made America the richest nation in the world. Its educational system had always been less elite than that of most European nations. By 1900 the U.S. had begun to educate its masses at the secondary level, not just in the primary schools that had remarkable success in the nineteenth century. The book argues that technological change, education, and inequality have been involved in a kind of race. During the first eight decades of the twentieth century, the increase of educated workers was higher than the demand for them. This had the effect of boosting income for most people and lowering inequality. However, the reverse has been true since about 1980. This educational slow-down was accompanied by rising inequality. The authors discuss the complex reasons for this, and what might be done to ameliorate it.

Contents:

The human capital century

Inequality across the twentieth century

Skill-biased technological change

Origins of the virtues

Economic foundations of the high school movement

America's graduation from high school

Mass higher education in the twentieth century

The race between education and technology

How America once led and can win the race for tomorrow.

Notes:

Originally published: 2008.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [443]-470) and index.

ISBN:

9780674254084

0674254082

9780674037731

0674037731