Education and Population Quality

Abstract

This chapter discusses the education and population quality. Education is a major source of acquired abilities. The value of this human capital is revealed in wages, salaries, and in entrepreneurial rewards, along with the additional personal satisfactions that people derive from their acquired abilities. The effects of education on economic activities are pervasive. The whole investment in human capital is a long-term venture. A high rate of inflation impairs the process of investment. Agriculture and education have one important attribute in common, namely, when they are centrally controlled, the performance of farms and schools languishes. Most educators and economists fail to comprehend the significance of the experience that poor people throughout the world have acquired over many generations. The economy is a part of a complex set of institutions. Young people are well-advised to plan on increasing their stock of human capital with an eye on the decades ahead when the economy will reward them for the investment. It is up to the respective electorates to demand that the necessary political reforms be made. The duration of the value of an individual's human capital cannot exceed his or her life span.