Education and economic growth

[Title Page and Publication Details]: Title page and publication metadata for Fritz Machlup's 'Education and Economic Growth', including copyright and library catalog information. [Preface]: Machlup explains that this essay is an expanded version of a 1969 public lecture. He discusses the challenge of balancing technical economic analysis for professionals with accessibility for a general audience. [Table of Contents]: A detailed outline of the book's three main sections: the productive contribution, demand, and cost of education. [Introduction]: Machlup distinguishes between economic growth and development, noting the surge in literature on the topic since 1960. He argues that while education increases productivity, the causal link from rising income to increased educational demand is often faster and more certain. [I. The Productive Contribution of Education]: This extensive section analyzes how education contributes to economic growth through labor quality, capital efficiency, and technological progress. Machlup critiques quantitative methods used to measure the 'residual' (the part of growth not explained by physical inputs), discussing the work of Schultz and Denison. He explores the link between education and reduced fertility, the risks of 'counterproductive' education in developing nations, and the distinction between private and social rates of return. The chapter concludes with a detailed review of Soviet economist Stanislav Strumilin's early attempts to calculate the profitability of education in the USSR. [II. The Demand for Education]: Machlup examines education as a 'superior good' with high income elasticity. He provides international comparisons of enrollment ratios and student-teacher ratios across various industrialized nations (USA, Japan, Sweden, etc.) over the 20th century. He notes that while primary and secondary student-teacher ratios have generally improved with growth, higher education shows more varied trends due to institutional rigidities. [III. The Cost of Education]: Machlup discusses the rising costs of education, distinguishing between total expenditures and cost per unit. He applies William Baumol's theory of 'unbalanced growth' to explain why education costs rise faster than physical goods: because teaching lacks the rapid productivity gains found in manufacturing, teacher salaries must still rise to match the general economy. He predicts that the rising fiscal burden will eventually force the adoption of labor-saving technologies and automation in teaching. [Index]: A comprehensive alphabetical index of topics, concepts, and authors mentioned in the text.