JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
Private and Social Returns to Education in Labour Surplus Economies

PERMANENT LINK(S)
Metadata
Show full item recordAuthor
Fields, Gary S.
Abstract
[Excerpt] The purpose of this paper is to consider the cost-benefit criterion for resource allocation in labour surplus economies calling particular attention to the contrasts with full employment economies. The specific plan is as follows. Section 1 reviews the debate over the applicability of cost-benefit analysis to problems of investment in education. Section 2 draws two important distinctions which are not always clear to educational planners and enumerates the likely benefits, both private and social, from education. Section 3 considers the case of full employment economies. Section 4 looks at the private returns to education in labour surplus economies in relation to the demand for education. Section 5 considers the social costs and benefits in labour surplus economies. Section 6 raises the problems of measuring marginal social rates of return and demonstrates the inadequacy of wage differentials as a measure of marginal social benefit. Section 7 summarizes the main points.
Date Issued
1972-01-01Subject
education; resource allocation; labor surplus; employment
Rights
Required Publisher Statement: © Oxford University Press. Final version published as: Fields, G. S. (1972). Private and social returns to education in labour surplus economies. Eastern Africa Economic Review, 4(1), 41-62. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Type
article