Challenging the Human Capital Orthodoxy: The Education-Productivity Link Re-examined*

The human capital orthodoxy has it that education is an investment, not only for the individual undertaking it but also for society when it devotes scarce resources to it The return to society on that investment is seen mainly in terms of the enhanced productive contribution made by more-educated workers. The measure of that greater contribution most often used by economists is the extra earnings the more-educated on average receive This paper re-examines the available evidence of links between education and productivity (and between earnings and productivity) and finds it to be inconclusive.