Economic returns to education: What We Know, What We Don’t Know, and Where We Are Going—Some brief pointers

The estimation of the economic return to education has perhaps been one of the predominant areas of analysis in applied economics for over 50 years. In this short note we consider some of the recent directions taken by the literature, and also some of the blockages faced by both science and policymakers in pushing forward some key issues. This serves by way of introduction to a set of papers for a special issue of the Economics of Education Review.

► We consider briefly the current trends in the literature on economic returns to education including econometric issues.
► We argue that the concept of the return to education should include non-monetary returns.
► We consider how research interests and the focus of policymakers may be at odds.
► We conclude with some suggestions for future research directions including data collection needs.