Despite these theoretical predictions, the empirical
evidence on the impact of education on economic growth
has long been mixed. In large part, this seems to reflect
measurement problems. Most people would acknowledge
that a year of schooling does not produce the same cognitive
skills everywhere. They would also agree that families
and peers contribute to education. Health and nutrition
further impact cognitive skills. Yet, until recently, research
on the economic impact of education – largely due to
expedience – has almost uniformly ignored these aspects.
Recent research shows that ignoring differences in the
quality of education significantly distorts the picture of
how educational and economic outcomes are related