What is it?

Economics of Education is a branch of economics. As we conceive it today, this discipline was born with a speech by Professor Theodore Schultz at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association in 1960. In this lecture, Professor Schultz first introduced the term “human capital” to refer to the idea that all activities that promote individual productivity can be analyzed as a form of investment. In line with this, the work of Jacob Mincer and Gary Becker laid the foundations for the theory of Human Capital, one of the most widespread currents of thought in the discipline. But Economics of Education goes beyond the scope of this theory, and developed trying to find solutions to specific problems in society (such as equal opportunities in education) or to create their own educational resources for managers (such as educational planning and management).

Some of the most relevant topics studied in Economics of Education are:

• Financing and Equity
• Educational management and planning
• Educational production and efficiency
• Training and labor market
• Education, economic growth and development
• Assessment of educational systems