Abstract

A collection of short, stand-alone chapters divided into five sections including overview of the field; private and social returns to human capital investments; production, costs and financing of education; teachers and teacher labor markets; and education markets, choice and incentives.  The collection provides international perspectives that describe the origins of these subjects, their major issues and proponents, their landmark studies, and opportunities for future research.

The 70 contributors are each well-regarded economists whose research has advanced the topic on which they write, and this book fulfills an undersupplied niche for a text in the economics of education.

The chapters come from the acclaimed International Encyclopedia of Education, 3e (2010), edited by Eva Baker, Barry McGaw, and Penelope Peterson.  The Encyclopedia contains over 1,350 articles in 24 sections that stretch from educational philosophies and technologies to measurement, leadership, and national systems of education.

• This single volume textbook presents a cohesive view of this increasingly important area of economics
• Superb contributions from well-regarded economist convey unique and useful perspectives
• Chapters contain an extensive bibliography and further readings to enable interested researchers to extend their knowledge into each specific topic

An encyclopedic overview of the contributions of economists to the study of education. The text would be an excellent choice for a textbook aimed at exposing education and public policy students to the research on education being conducted by economists, particularly those classes focused on K- 12 education. With the comprehensive approach to topics and the bibliographic detail, this text is at a minimum an excellent reference for anyone that researches or teaches education topics using economic concepts. - Larry D. Singell Jr.- Department of Economics, University of Oregon, Eugene