社会回报教育

发达国家中学教育的主要目标是为学生准备高等教育和劳动力市场。这需要在研究期间和专业领域进行高度投资，以满足不断上升的技能要求。但是，这些对更多教育的要求反对呼吁早期进入劳动力市场，延长工作寿命，以满足与人口老龄化相关的成本上升，并能够实现代际的技能转移。延长工作寿命的一种方法是缩短中学期间，这是最近在加拿大和德国实施的选择。经验证据表明影响不同。

Children from disadvantaged families have lower levels of school readiness when they enter school than do children from more advantaged families. Many countries have tried to reduce this inequality through publicly provided preschool. Evidence on the potential of these programs to reduce inequality in child development is now quite strong. Long-term studies of large publicly funded programs in Europe and Latin America, and newer studies on state and local prekindergarten programs implemented more recently in the US, find that the programs do improve outcomes for young children, particularly for those from disadvantaged families.

妇女的教育与生育能力之间的负相关性在整个地区和时间之间都强烈观察到。但是，其解释尚不清楚。妇女的教育水平可能会因其对妇女健康的影响以及出生，儿童健康，所需的儿童人数以及妇女控制不同节育方法的出生和知识的能力而影响生育能力。这些机制中的每一个都取决于个人，制度和国家的情况。它们的相对重要性可能会随着一个国家的经济发展过程而改变。

policymakers in many OECD countries are increasingly concerned about high and rising inequality. Much of the evidence (as far back as Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations) points to the importance of skills in tackling wage inequality. Yet a recent strand of the research argues that (cognitive) skills explain little of the cross-country differences in wage inequality. Does this challenge the received wisdom on the relationship between skills and wage inequality? No, because this recent research fails to account for the fact that the price of skill (and thus wage inequality) is determined to a large extent by the match of skill supply and demand.

developing countries often face two well-known structural problems: high youth unemployment and high inequality. In recent decades, policymakers have increased the share of government spending on education in developing countries to address both of these issues. The empirical literature offers mixed results on which type of education is most suitable to improve gainful employment and reduce inequality: is it primary, secondary, or tertiary education? Investigating recent literature on the returns to education in selected developing countries in Africa can help to answer this question.

到2030年，中等教育的普遍完成是联合国可持续发展目标设定的目标之一。追溯到教育的较高预期的成人工资可能在达到这一目标方面发挥重要作用，因为他们预计将为家庭希望在孩子的未来提供最佳投资的儿童增加学校入学率。但是，低收入和满足即时需求的义务可能会阻止这种投资。研究表明，发展中国家的学校入学与预期的未来工资呈正相关，但贫困家庭继续低估了孩子的孩子。