The Returns to Education Turn 50: Reflections on the Work of George Psacharopoulos

“One finding that deserves attention is that since the first time a 10% rate of return was estimated in the United States using 1939 census data, it has stayed nearly the same for over eighty years.” — George Psacharopoulos, 2024

I had the pleasure of guest editing the special issue of Education Economics ‘The Returns to Education Turn 50: Reflections on the Work of George Psacharopoulos.

George Psacharopoulos’ scholarly contributions fall within the realm of the economics of education. He has published in the top journals in economics, development, education, sociology, and his books are best-sellers among the best-known scholarly publishers. His works have been published into dozens of languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Turkish. He has more than 575 publications and 40,000 citations, including one by Gary Becker in his Nobel Lecture who referred to George’s work on the returns to education literature.

In the volume, Psacharopoulos reflects on his brilliant career in Returns to education: a brief history and an assessment.

My introduction focuses on the impact of his 1973 book, Returns to Education, in The returns to education turn 50: reflections on the work of George Psacharopoulos.

Barry Chiswick offers a great take on the literature in Estimating returns to schooling and experience: a history of thought.

The rest of the contributions are excellent and I am grateful to the authors and reviewers:

The rate of return to early childhood education in Japan: estimates from the nationwide expansion (Akabayashi and  Tanaka)

Returns to education in Greece: adjusting to large wage cuts (Cholezas and  Kanellopoulos)

A study on regional return to education in South Korea: comparison of male and female wages (Lee and Choi)

Updates on private returns to education in Uganda: evidence from universal primary education policy (Sakaue, Wokadala and Ogawa)

Returns to education in Nepal: an analysis of educational attainment, employability and social mobility (Thapa and Izawa)

An investigation of the decline in the returns to higher education in Vietnam (Banh, Dao, Glewwe and Thai)

Perceived returns and regrets among college graduates (Shafiq and Toutkoushian)

College rankings, labor market outcomes, and alumni satisfaction (Bettinger and Fidjeland)

The effect of education on household incomes using the Mincerian approach: a comparison between MENA and the rest of the world (Tzannatos, Diwan and Ahad)