Chapter 7: Economics and Finance of Education: Review of Developments, Trends, and Challenges

Does education affect economic outcomes, and if so, how? Does education finance interact with public policy? And how does education finance policy contribute to the development of a new strategic planning for the next generation, if at all? This chapter reviews recent conceptual and methodological developments in the field of economics and finance of education. The review covers these two major topics and is divided into three sections. First is an overview of the field, including current trends in economics of education in both developed and developing countries. This section incorporates themes such as returns to investment in education, costs of education, education and economic growth, and education market, choice, and incentives. The second section focuses on finance of education and current debates on equality, equity, and efficiency in educational finances. The third section presents summary and discussion. The discussion will bring to light the issues, challenges, opportunities, and future directions of the field. Where appropriate, examples and empirical evidence from both developing and developed countries are presented.