The fading productivity of schooling in East Asia

Gundlach, Erich; Wößmann, Ludger (2001): The fading productivity of schooling in East Asia. In: Journal of Asian Economics, Vol. 12, No. 3: pp. 401-417

Abstract

We estimate changes in the productivity of schooling for six East Asian countries. Our productivity measure is based on changes in the relative price of schooling. A rising price of schooling relative to other labor-intensive service sectors should indicate declining relative schooling productivity. We find that the price of schooling increased by more than the price of other labor-intensive services in 1980 to 1994. We also find that the cognitive achievement of pupils did not change substantially, which suggests a constant quality of schooling output. Hence, we conclude that schooling productivity has declined. The main reason for the fading productivity of schooling in East Asian countries appears to be a strong decline in the pupil-teacher ratio.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Economics; Economics > Chairs > CESifo-Professorship for Empirical Innovation Economics
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics
• Language: English