Abstract
During the last decade empirical estimates have become available of the yield of educational capital in a number of countries. In this article the meaning of the phrase ‘rate of return to investment in higher education’ is explained and then the relevant evidence in twenty five countries is reviewed. A distinction is drawn between the returns enjoyed by the individual and those accrued to the society as a whole, and the results of the comparison are discussed in terms of their implications for public subsidies towards higher education. Moreover, a comparison is attempted between the returns to physical capital and the returns to investment in higher education at given stages of economic development. The result of the comparisons is that in less developed countries the returns to investment in education are well above the returns to physical capital whereas the returns to university education in advanced countries are of the same order of magnitude or even less than the returns to physical capital.
Résumé
Durant la dernière décade ont été rassemblées des données permettant une évaluation empirique du rendement du capital constitué par l'éducation dans plusieurs pays. Dans cet article on montre d'abord la signification de l'expression de “taux de profit des investissements dans l'enseignement supérieur”; on examine ensuite les données pertinentes dans ces vingt-cinq pays. On établit une distinction entre le profit que l'individu retire de l'éducation et le profit qu'en retire la société dans son ensemble; on discute les résultats de la comparaison du point de vue des subventions publiques accordées à l'enseignement supérieur. En outre, on essaie de comparer les rendements du placement dans l'enseignement supérieur, à des niveaux différent de la croissance économique. Le résultat de ces comparaisons est que dans les pays les moins développés le rendement des investissements d'éducation est bien supérieur à celui du capital physique, tandis que le rendement de l'éducation universitaire dans les pays développés est égal ou même inférieur à celui du capital physique.
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Psacharopoulos, G. The economic returns to higher education in twenty-five countries. High Educ 1, 141–158 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00139661
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00139661