Our entry in the live Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. We highlight the enduring evidence that education is a powerful form of human capital investment, generating substantial private and social returns.
Education remains one of the best investments individuals and societies can make. The evidence is remarkably consistent: higher levels of education are associated with higher earnings, better employment opportunities, and stronger economic growth. As George Psacharopoulos and I have argued for many years, the returns to education remain high across countries and over time — reinforcing the case for investing not only in access to schooling, but also in learning and skills.
Read the chapter here: https://link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_489-1
Reference: Patrinos, H.A., Psacharopoulos, G. (2026). Seventy Years of Human Capital: What We Know and What We Still Need to Learn. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (eds) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_489-1
Education, economics and public policy 