Equalizing Superstars: The Internet and the Democratization of Education / Daron Acemoglu, David Laibson, John A. List.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Acemoglu, Daron.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Laibson, David.

List, John A.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w19851.

NBER working paper series no. w19851

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Equalizing Superstars

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2014.

Summary:

Internet-based educational resources are proliferating rapidly. One concern associated with these (potentially transformative) technological changes is that they will be disequalizing - as many technologies of the last several decades have been - creating superstar teachers and a winner-take-all education system. These important concerns notwithstanding, we contend that a major impact of web-based educational technologies will be the democratization of education: educational resources will be more equally distributed, and lower-skilled teachers will benefit. At the root of our results is the observation that skilled lecturers can only exploit their comparative advantage if other teachers complement those lectures with face-to-face instruction. This complementarity will increase the quantity and quality of face-to-face teaching services, potentially increasing the marginal product and wages of lower-skill teachers.

Notes:

Print version record

January 2014.