The Race Between Education and Technology

by Goldin, Claudia

• ISBN13: 9780674035300
• ISBN10: 0674035305
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-10-30
• Publisher: Belknap Pr

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Claudia Goldin is Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Lawrence Katz is Elisabeth Allison Professor of Economics at Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Economic Growth and Distribution
The Human Capital Century	p. 11
Inequality across the Twentieth Century	p. 44
Skill-Biased Technological Change	p. 89
Education for the Masses in Three Transformations
Origins of the Virtues	p. 129
Economic Foundations of the High School Movement	p. 163
America's Graduation from High School	p. 194
Mass Higher Education in the Twentieth Century	p. 247
The Race
The Race between Education and Technology	p. 287
How America Once Led and Can Win the Race for Tomorrow	p. 324
	p. 355
	p. 357
	p. 375
	p. 379
Notes	p. 383
References	p. 443
Acknowledgments	p. 471
Index	p. 475
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