Education, social equality, and economic growth: a view of the landscape. CESifo Economic Studies

One of the main determinants of economic growth around the world since 1965 has been education. This paper discusses three different measures of education, and considers their relationship to the distribution of income as measured by the Gini coefficient and to economic growth across countries: (a) gross secondary-school enrolment, (b) public expenditure on education relative to national income and (c) expected years of schooling for girls. We show that all three measures of education are directly related to income equality across countries. In a sample of 87 countries at all income levels, we also find that more and better education appears to encourage economic growth directly as well as indirectly through increased social equality and cohesion