Education and economic performance Throughout the developed and developing worlds education spending is seen as a key tool for government policy makers in the quest for economic growth. Promoting human capital development is a prime objective for economic and education ministries. The seminal articles discussed in this essential research review include early classics which explain why education became central to productivity debates and more recent papers which elucidate the enormous controversies in this important field Middleton J. (1989) Vocational Education and Training: A Review of World Bank Investment Washington DC: World Bank. Mincer Jacob (1958) Investment in Human Capital and Personal Income Distribution Journal of Political Economy 66 (4) 281 302. Mincer J. (1974) Schooling Experience and Earnings New York: National Bureau of Education Research. North D. (1990) Institutions Institutional Change and Economic Performance Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. OECD (1964) The Residual Factor and Economic Growth Study Group in the Economics of Education Paris: Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development. Psacharopoulos G. (1995) The Profitability of Investment in Education: Concepts and Methods Washington DC: World Bank. Scott M.F. (1998) A New View of Economic Growth Oxford: Oxford University Press. Smith A. (1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations available at http: www.econlib.org library Smith smWN.html. Wolf A. (2002) Does Education Matter Myths About Education and Economic Growth London: Penguin. Wolf A. Jenkins A. and Vignoles A. (2006) Certifying the workforce: economic imperative or failed social policy Journal of Education Policy 21 (5) 535 66. Zucker L.G. Darby M.R. and Brewer M.B. (1998) Intellectual human capital and the birth of US biotechnology enterprises American Economic Review 88 (1) 290 306. Edward F. Denison (1964) Measuring the Contribution of Education (and the Residual) to Economic Growth in Study Group in the Economics of Education The Residual Factor and Economic Growth Paris France: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development 13 55 Mark Blaug (1972) Educated Unemployment in Asia: A Contrast Between India and the Philippines Philippine Economic Journal 11 (1) September 33 57 Barry R. Chiswick (2003) Jacob Mincer Experience and the Distribution of Earnings Review of Economics of the Household 1 (4) 343 61 Robert J. Barro and Jong Wha Lee (1993) International Comparisons of Educational Attainment Journal of Monetary Economics 32 (3) 363 94 Robert J. Barro and Jong Wha Lee (1994) Sources of Economic Growth Carnegie Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy 40 1 46 Jacob Mincer (1984) Human Capital and Economic Growth Economics of Education Review 3 (3) 195 205 Alan B. Krueger and Mikael Lindahl (2001) Education for Growth: Why and for Whom Journal of Economic Literature XXXIX (4) December 1101 36 Alison Wolf (2004) Education and Economic Performance: Simplistic Theories and their Policy Consequences Oxford Review of Economic Policy 20 (2) 315 33 Recommended readings (Machine generated): Acemoglu D. (2003) Technology and inequality NBER Reporter Winter 2003 Cambridge MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Atkinson A.B. (2008) The Changing Distribution of Earnings in OECD Countries Oxford: Oxford University Press. Becker G.S. (1964 1975 1993) Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press. College Board (2008) Coming to our Senses: Education and the American Future New York: College Board. Commission of the European Communities (2005) Common Actions for Growth and Employment: The Community Lisbon Programme COM (2005) 330 20.7. 2005 Brussels: Commission of the European Communities. Finer S.E. (1997) The History of Government Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gibbons S. and Machin S. (2003) Valuing English primary schools Journal of Urban Economics 53 197 219. Goldin C. and Katz L.F. (2008) The Race Between Education and Technology Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. Goldthorpe J. and Mills C. (2008) Trends in intergenerational class mobility in modern Britain: evidence from national surveys 1972 2005 National Institute Economic Review 205 (1) July 83 100. Green A. (1990) Education and State Formation London: Macmillan. Grubb W.N. and Lazerson M. (2004) The Education Gospel: The Economic Power of Schooling Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. Keep E. Mayhew K. and Payne J. (2006) From skills revolution to productivity miracle not as easy as it sounds Oxford Review of Economic Policy 22 (4) 539 59. Krueger A. and Lindahl M. (1999) Education for growth in Sweden and the World Swedish Economic Policy Review 6 289 339. Leonhardt D. (2009) The big fix New York Times 27 January. Marx K. ([1847] 1955) The Poverty of Philosophy London: Progress Publishers. Maurin E. and McNally S. (2008) Vive la revolution! Long term returns of 1968 to the angry students Journal of Labor Economics 26 (1) 1 33. McIntosh S. (2004) The Returns to Apprenticeship Training CEP DP 622 London: CEP LSE. McIntosh S. (2007) A Cost Benefit Analysis of Apprenticeships and Other Vocational Qualifications RR 834 Sheffield: DES. Michaels G. Natraj A. and Van Reenan J. (2010) Has ICT Polarised Skill Demand Evidence from Eleven Countries over 25 Years CEP DP 987 London: LSE Lant Pritchett (2001) Where Has All the Education Gone World Bank Economic Review 15 (3) 367 91 Anna Vignoles Augustin De Coulon and Oscar Marcenaro Gutierrez (2011) The Value of Basic Skills in the British Labour Market Oxford Economic Papers 63 27 48 Colm Harmon and Ian Walker (1995) Estimates of the Economic Return to Schooling for the United Kingdom American Economic Review 85 (5) December 1278 86 Richard Blundell Lorraine Dearden and Barbara Sianesi (2005) Measuring the Returns to Education in Stephen Machin and Anna Vignoles (eds) Whats the Good of Education The Economics of Education in the UK Chapter 7 Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press 117 45 references Dan A. Black and Jeffrey A. Smith (2006) Estimating the Returns to College Quality with Multiple Proxies for Quality Journal of Labor Economics 24 (3) 701 28 Stacy Berg Dale and Alan B. Krueger (2002) Estimating the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College: An Application of Selection on Observables and Unobservables Quarterly Journal of Economics 117 (4) November 1491 527 Dirk Krueger and Krishna B. Kumar (2004) US Europe Differences in Technology driven Growth: Quantifying the Role of Education Journal of Monetary Economics 51 (1) January 161 90 Ofer Malamud and Cristian Pop Eleches (2010) General Education Versus Vocational Training: Evidence from an Economy in Transition Review of Economics and Statistics 92 (1) February 43 60 Stephen Machin and John Van Reenen (1998) Technology and Changes in Skill Structure: Evidence from Seven OECD Countries Quarterly Journal of Economics 13 (4) November 1215 44 Rachel Griffith Stephen Redding and John Van Reenen (2004) Mapping the Two Faces of R&D: Productivity Growth in a Panel of OECD Industries Review of Economics and Statistics 86 (4) 883 95 Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz (2007) Long run Changes in the Wage Structure: Narrowing Widening Polarizing Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 2 135 65 Daron Acemoglu (1999) Changes in Unemployment and Wage Inequality: An Alternative Theory and Some Evidence American Economic Review 89 (5) December 1259 78 Saul Lach and Mark Schankerman (2008) Incentives and Invention in Universities RAND Journal of Economics 39 (2) Summer 403 33 Ricardo Godoy Dean S. Karlan Shanti Rabindran and Tomás Huanca (2005) Do Modern Forms of Human Capital Matter in Primitive Economies Comparative Evidence from Bolivia Economics of Education Review 24 (1) February 45 53 Enrico Moretti (2004) Workers Education Spillovers and Productivity: Evidence from Plant level Production Functions American Economic Review 94 (3) June 656 90 Sharada Weir and John Knight (2004) Externality Effects of Education: Dynamics of the Adoption and Diffusion of an Innovation in Rural Ethiopia Economic Development and Cultural Change 53 (1) October 93 113