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Trang 3In presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Emory University, I agree that the Library of the University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulation, governing materials of this type I agree that permission to copy from, or to publish this dissertation may be granted by the professor under whose direction it was written, or, in his absence, by the Dean of the Graduate School when such copying or publication is solely for
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Trang 5THE EFFECTS OF EDUCATION ON ECONOMIC GROWTH: THE CASE OF BOTSWANA AND SOUTH AFRICA (1970-1994)
Mamamelela D Matlhako B.A., University of the North, 1985
M.A., Emory University, 1997
Advisor: Richard Rubinson, Ph.D
An abstract of
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Emory University in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Trang 6This study analyzes the effects of education on economic growth in the two southern African countries of Botswana and South Africa In this study, educational expansion is defined in terms of primary, secondary, and tertiary education Derived
from the theories of the relationship between education and economic growth, the approach presented argues that the positive relationship between education and the economy is dependent on certain characteristics of the economic and educational
systems Where the human capital process operates, education will have a positive effect on economic growth However, if education is structured in such a way as to reflect the
class structure, reflect status competition or institutional isomorphism, its effects will be blocked or limited
The empirical analyses of this study specify the conditions under which education increases national economic growth The research design for this study combins two types of data sources and methods: qualitative historical analyses and time series
regression analyses The historical analysis investigates the structure of the economic and educational systems and uses primary and secondary sources The quantitative
analysis examines the effects of primary, secondary, and tertiary education on four sectors of the economy; agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and service The period of
analysis is 1970-1994 The study relies on time series analysis, using data on education
and economic growth The three central questions posed by the study are: What has been
the relationship between education and economic growth in Botswana and South Africa? Did education have an effect on economic growth? If so, under what conditions did
Trang 7The findings from this study provide broad support for the theoretical perspective that views human capital processes as conditional on the relation of education to the
economy The results of the study indicate that the structure and shape of education in both countries substantially dependends on class reproduction, status competition, and institutional isomorphism processes Despite country specific institutional phenomenon,
the expansion of education in both cases was determined largely by these processes Overall, the results of the study indicate that the myth of education influenced the
government, the population at large, status groups, and businesses to demand more
Trang 8Acknowledgements
I am indebted to my advisor Dr Richard Rubinson for years of teaching and mentoring I owe him all my knowledge and appreciation of the discipline, “O gole o lekane le Tlou.”
His encouragement and support were critical to my completing this program I would also like to thank an excellent dissertation committee of Dr John Boli, Dr.Regina Werum, and Dr Carole Hahn for their insightful comments and willingness to help Special thanks to fellow graduate students Kristin Marsh for your friendship,
encouragement and sharing your knowledge, and Stuart Hysom for your friendship Many thanks also to the staff of the Sociology Department, Mrs Maggie Stephens, Mrs Cathy David, and Mrs Daphne Outlaw, for their assistance and friendship
Most of all, I would like to thank my family in South Africa and my adopted American family for their encouragement and support I am profoundly grateful to my good friends Kim Jackson and Catherine Smith-Jones, to my sisters Sheila and Dimakatso, to my niece Sekgametsi I also wish to thank Pauline and Harold Jackson who by opening their
house, provided a much appreciated home away from home as well as exuberant friendship and hospitality Finally, I would like to thank my daughters, Mokgadi and Mokie, who by dint of fate had to share a house with this project for nearly a decade and kept me sane I’m grateful for Mokgadi’s quiet strength and Mokie’s great sense of humor You have always been an inspiration to me This dissertation is dedicated to the
Trang 9THE CASE OF THE EFFECTS OF EDUCATION ON ECONOMIC GROWTH:BOTSWANA AND SOUTH AFRICA (1970-1994)
Mamamelela D Matlhako B.A., University of the North, 1985
M.A., Emory University, 1997
Advisor: Richard Rubinson, Ph.D
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Emory University in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Trang 10UMI Number: 3050122 ® UMI UMI Microform 3050122
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Trang 11Table of Contents
Chapter
I: Introduction
2: Theoretical Framework
Economic, Social, and Political Processes The Human Capital Process
The Status Competition Process The Class Reproduction Process The World Institutional Process
Baseline Model of Schooling and Economic Growth
The Relationship between Education and Economic Growth Education and Economic Growth: What Processes
Stand in the Way of Success?
Research Design and Methodology Historical Analysis Quantitative Analysis Model Specification Estimation Variables and Sources of Data Economic Growth: 1970-1994
Botswana: The State and the Ministry of Education South Africa and Apartheid Education
Industrialization in Botswana
Post-Independence Economic Growth Policies
Industrialization in South Africa Economic Growth Strategies
Foreign Investment and Economic Growth
Changing Skill Requirements
Conditions for Economic Growth: 1970-1994 Botswana: Education and Economic Growth
Enrollments
Educational Quality
Curriculum
Mass and Elite Tracks
Trang 126: Results of the Analysis for Time Series
Regression Analysis: 1970-1994
South Africa: 1970-1993
The Effects of Primary Education on Economic Growth The Effects of Secondary Education on Economic Growth The Effects of Tertiary Education on Economic Growth 7: Discussion and Conclusions
Botswana: Education, Class Reproduction and Status Competition
Trang 13Table 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 6.1 6.3a 6.3b 6.3c 6.4 6.5 6.6a 6.6b 6.6¢ List of Tables
Ratios of Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary
Enrollments in Botswana (Selected Years)
Ratios of Primary Enrollments to the
Age-Eligible Population
Ratios Secondary Enrollments to Primary Enrollments Ratios of Tertiary Enrollments to Secondary Enrollments Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Primary, Secondary,
and Tertiary Education on the Total Output (GDP): Botswana, 1970-1994
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Primary Enrollments on the Growth of Agriculture Mining,
Manufacturing, and Service Sectors: Botswana, 1970-1994 Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Primary
Expenditures on the Growth of Agriculture, Mining,
Manufacturing, and Service Sectors: Botswana 1970-1994
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Primary
Education on the Growth of Agriculture, Mining,
Manufacturing, and Service Sectors: Botswana, 1970-1994 Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Secondary
Enrollments on the Growth of Agriculture, Mining,
Manufacturing, and Service Sectors: Botswana, 1970-1994 Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Secondary
Expenditures on the Growth of Agriculture, Mining,
Manufacturing, and Service Sectors: Botswana, 1970-1994 Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Secondary
Education on the Growth of Agriculture, Mining,
Manufacturing, and Service Sectors: Botswana, 1970-1994 Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of Tertiary Education on the
Growth of Agriculture, Mining, Manufacturing, and Service Sector: Botswana, 1970-1994
Summary of Educational Effects: Botswana, 1970-1994 Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Primary
Education of Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites on Total Output (GDP): South Africa, 1970-1993
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Primary
Education of Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites on Agicultural Output: South Africa, 1970-1993
Trang 146.6d 6.6e 6.6f 6.7 6.7a 6.7b 6.7c 6.7d 6.7e 6.8 6.8a 6.8b 6.&c 6.8d
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Primary Education of Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites on Manufacturing Output: South Africa, 1970-1993
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of Primary Education of Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites on Service Sector: South Africa, 1970-1993
Summary for Primary Educational Effects for Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites, on Agriculture, Mining, Manufacturing, and Service Sectors: South Africa
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Secondary Education of Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites on Total Output (GDP): South Africa, 1970-1993
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Secondary Education of Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites on Agricultural Output: South Africa, 1970-1993
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Secondary Education of Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites on Mining Output: South Africa, 1970-1993
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Secondary Education of Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites on Manufacturing Output: South Africa, 1970-1993
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Secondary Education of Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites on Service Output: South Africa, 1970-1993
Summary for Secondary Educational Effects for Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites, on Agriculture, Mining, Manufacturing, and Service Sectors: South Africa,
1970-1993
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Tertiary Education of Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites on Total Output (GDP): South Africa, 1970-1993
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Tertiary Education of Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites on Agriculture Output: South Africa, 1970-1993
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Tertiary Education of Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites on Mining Output: South Africa, 1970-1993
Hildreth-Lu Regression Estimates of the Effects of Tertiary Education of Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Whites on Manufacturing Output: South Africa, 1970-1993
Trang 156.8e Summary for Tertiary Educational Effects for Blacks,
Coloureds, Indians, and Whites, on Agriculture, Mining, Manufacturing, and Service Sectors: South Africa,
1970-1993 127
6.8f£ Summary of Educational Effects for Blacks, Coloureds,
Trang 16CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
Neoclassical economists, modernization advocates, and national leaders regard education as important and feel that it has a crucial role to play in achieving economic growth They assume that educational expansion increases the productivity of national economies by increasing the skill levels of the labor force This emphasis on the crucial role of education in economic growth has stimulated educational expansion in southern Africa since the 1960’s, often with the encouragement of the World Bank, United Nations, and international and national aid programs In March 1966, the United
Nations, in association with the World Bank, launched yet another initiative on African Development in a desperate attempt to once again contribute in a bold way to solving Africa’s development crisis “The United Nations Systematic Special Initiative for Africa was to invest $25 billion in the region to expand basic health care, promote peace, and better governance Thirty five percent of the target sum will be for education”
(World Bank 1996)
Trang 17t2
economic growth simply represents our institutionalized beliefs about the relationship of education to the economy It is a widely shared idea that educational expansion
contributed to the economic success of Asian countries.' Likewise, it was thought that education would eventually solve Africa’s problems of poverty and low standards of living, through its contribution to economic growth It is with despair, therefore, that thirty years after the United Nations initiative on African development, a participant at a Conference on Education for Growth in South Africa asked, “ Is education for economic growth a myth? Are we wasting our scarce resources on education that we should be using for other things?” (SAIRR 1994) This dilemma is reflective of African countries struggling with widespread hunger, political instability, violence, and natural disasters In this study, I attempt to answer these questions by exploring the relationship between the educational and economic systems in two southern African countries, Botswana and South Africa
In order to ameliorate this situation through economic policy, education, or other initiatives, it is first necessary to understand the nature of the relationship between
education and economic growth and the conditions under which education can positively
contribute to economic growth Thus, an important goal of this research is to provide a deeper theoretical understanding of the conditions under which education increases or impedes economic growth
Botswana and South Africa offer a unique opportunity for comparative research on the relationship between education and economic growth They are similar in terms of geographic location, but differ in terms of their class and ethnic structure, the structure
Trang 18
and nature of economic development, the structure of their educational systems, and level of development
The theoretical perspectives that have been used to explain the relationship between education and economic growth are technical-functional (human capital), status conflict, and class reproduction theories Until thel970”s, human capital theory was dominant in the education and economic development literature Its main argument is that people who have more years of schooling have better jobs and higher pay than those with less years of schooling Then, if earnings’ differences reflect differences in people’s productivity, the more people with more education, the greater economic productivity at the aggregate level As a result, the national economy grows (Becker 1964; Inkeles and Smith 1974; Schultz 1961) An underlying premise of this approach is that economic factors such as technological changes, the demand for highly skilled workers, and
economic growth will drive educational expansion, which in turn will increase economic growth
Trang 19enact these requirements Thus, educational expansion may, but does not necessarily promote economic growth (Collins 1979; Rubinson and Ralph 1984)
Class reproduction theory argues that the primary function of education is to reproduce the class structure and its inequalities The structure of education is continually reorganized to correspond to the structure of work and politics These
structures socialize future workers to economic and political authority Consequently, the
expansion of schooling has no necessary connections to changes in technology or
upgrading of skills Thus, education may, but does not necessarily increase economic
growth or labor productivity (Bowles and Gintis 1976; Fuller 1991; Rubinson 1986)
World institutional theory argues that education will have little direct effect on economic growth According to this theory, national educational systems are driven by a process of institutional isomorphism based on a global cultural model of the nation-state and citizenship, rather by forces of technical change, status conflict or class domination
(Ramirez and Ventresca 1992)
However, these theories fail to explain the pattern of inconsistent educational effects on economic growth Although many empirical studies have found some
economic effects of education, these results have not been strong, uniform, or consistent For example, numerous cross-national studies show small positive effects of educational enrollments that are not uniform across levels of schooling and not consistent across time periods (Barro 1991; Benavot 1992; Meyer and Hannan 1979; Mankiv, Romer, and Weil
1992) In addition many case studies support these findings (Fuller, Edwards, and Gorman 1986; Garnier, Hage, and Fuller 1989; Hage, Garnier, and Fuller 1988; Liu and
Trang 20These studies challenge the assumption that the effects of education on economic growth are uniform Rather, the effects of education on the economy may differ greatly between nations, by level of development, educational level, time period, and even
between regions, and social groups Even nations that seemingly share present conditions
are divided by their histories, such as colonial experiences, and, thus, are divided by paths of progression Empirical evidence reveals that the causal relationship between education and economic growth is more complex and diverse than education policies of the 1960’s and 1970’s anticipated
Fuller and Rubinson (1992) argue that a more fruitful way of thinking about these theories is to understand them as conditional rather than deterministic and recast them into the more rigorous question: “Under what conditions does education promote or impede economic growth?” They suggest that positive effects of educational expansion on economic growth are dependent on certain characteristics of the economic and
educational system and in particular, on how closely the qualities and number of students enrolled in school are matched to the requirements of the economy Where human
capital processes operate to produce such a match, educational expansion contributes to economic growth
If, however, educational expansion takes place under the conditions where either
Trang 21in small selective educational streams with curricula oriented to elite culture and to a
mismatch in enrollments to labor force requirements
Similarly, if educational expansion takes place under the conditions where
institutional isomorphism operates, its contribution to economic growth will be weakened The institutional isomorphism process weakens economic effects of education, because the structure of education develops in terms of a standard, uniform model, based on a worldwide picture of what national education systems should look like, and develop very similar curricula independently of the characteristics and needs of
their national economic systems (Meyer, Ramirez, Soysal 1992)
Furthermore, successful coupling of education to the changing needs of the economy requires either market forces or state actions to accurately reflect economic
needs vis-a-vis the schools (Fuller and Rubinson 1992) Given these factors, the role of
the state becomes crucial In fact, strong states can insist on this coupling and thereby generate a greater payoff from investment in human capital, whereas weak states may allow schooling to be shaped by class interests or popular demand for higher credentials
(Hage et al 1988)
The questions this research seeks to answer are: What has been the relationship
between education and economic growth in Botswana and South Africa? Did education
have an effect on economic growth? If so, under what conditions did education increase
or impede economic growth? It is hoped that by making systematic comparisons of the conditions that existed in Botswana and South Africa, it will be possible to understand
Trang 22beyond the cases of Botswana and South Africa to the question of the relationship
between education and economic growth in Africa, and as such provide fertile ground for subsequent theoretical and empirical inquiry
Botswana and South Africa offer an interesting comparative case study in understanding education’s contribution to economic growth Botswana is landlocked and mineral dependent (diamonds) with a population of 1.5 million people For most of the past thirty years, Botswana has been surrounded by wars of independence and civil unrest in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa
Botswana is renowned for its dramatic economic growth in the post-colonial period At independence, in 1966, Botswana was one of the world’s poorest economies, predominately agrarian, dependent on cattle and dryland agriculture, with labor migration to the South African mines (Valentine 1993) In 1966 over 30% of males aged 20-40 were working in the South African mines (Valentino 1993; World Bank 1991)
By the 1970’s Botswana emerged as one of the few countries experiencing rapid economic growth, paralleled only by those of oil exporting countries By the 1980’s
Botswana was the second largest producer of diamonds in the world after the Russian Federation Between 1980 and 1990 its annual economic growth averaged 13% (Valentino 1993; World Bank 1991) The record of growth and change by 1990 was spectacular, leading many scholars and development workers to refer to Botswana as Africa’s economic miracle
Trang 23agriculture were dominant in the South African economy, which was dependent on cheap
coerced black labor Only in the early 1970’s, with the expansion of manufacturing did
South Africa’s economy shift to technology-intensive production From 1960 to 1970 the average annual growth was 6% (SAIRR 1975) However, the rate has consistently
declined in every five-year year period since 1970 and the average annual growth was 1% between 1970 and 1994 (SAIRR 1975; 1980; 1985; 1990; 1995
In the course of industrial expansion, both Botswana and South Africa rapidly expanded their educational systems At independence, prior to its economic take-off,
primary enrollments represented a very small percentage of the school-aged population in
Botswana There were 251 primary schools and nine secondary schools It is estimated that only 40 people had university degrees By 1982 there were 168,000 primary school
students, 18,000 secondary school students, and more than 1,000 university students
(Republic of Botswana 1985)
As in Botswana, education expanded rapidly in South Africa However,
education in South Africa was racially differentiated and manifestly unequal Not only were there racially separate state education departments, but also state-supported access to schooling was racially differentiated White children were provided with twelve years
of free and compulsory education, while blacks had none of these provisions
Trang 24the relationship between economic development and the apartheid system At one extreme are those who argued that economic growth, by creating a demand for skilled
labor, generated inexorable pressures on apartheid institutions, leading to the expansion of schooling for blacks which in turn increased economic growth (O’ Dowd 1985) At the
other extreme are those who argued that economic growth did not generate educational
expansion for blacks since apartheid prevented the education and training of workers, thus causing skill shortages (Lipton 1986)
Although there is much circumstantial evidence and speculation about the
relationship between education and economic growth in both countries, direct empirical analysis of education’s contribution to economic growth at the aggregate level is lacking The question remains whether educational expansion actually increased economic output in Botswana and South Africa; and if so under what conditions?
This study is organized as follows: Chapter Two develops a theoretical explanation of the conditions under which education will increase economic growth Chapter Three presents the methodological strategies, data sources, and variables of this study Chapter Four analyzes the characteristics of the economy and economic growth strategies in each country Chapter Five examines the broad effects of the economy on education and the effects of political, social, and institutional factors on education
Trang 25CHAPTER TWO
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The objective of this research is to contribute to an understanding of the
conditions under which education has contributed to economic growth in Botswana and South Africa Human capital theory, class reproduction theory, status competition theory, and institutional theory have been used to explain the relationship between education and economic growth Human capital theory implies that education has positive effects on economic growth, while status competition class reproduction, and world institutional theories suggest that education effects are more often neutral or
negative
Human capital theory was dominant in the education and economic development literature until the early 1970’s Its explanation is that people with more years of
schooling have better jobs and higher pay than those with less years of schooling They argue that these earning differences reflect differences in people’s productivity
Therefore, the more people with education, the greater economic productivity at the aggregate level and as a result, the national economy grows (Becker 1964; Denison 1962; Schultz 1961)
Trang 26HH
higher level skills because the modern economy is likely to lead to deskilling as much as
the upgrading of skills
As an alternative to the human capital approach, stratification theories view schools as allocating people to jobs on the basis of their educational credentials, apart from anything else they may have learned in school Stratification theories such as status competition and social reproduction differ on whether status or class is the major
dimension of allocation, however, both theories challenge human capital theory
Status competition views education as a social institution whose major function is to allocate people to jobs according to their credentials This theory argues that education is primarily a mark of membership in particular status groups, not an indicator of job skills or competence The educational requirements for jobs reflect the interests of status groups in organizations and professions that have the power to enact these requirements
Within organizations, status groups compete for occupational advantage, and one of the major mechanisms of this competition is to restrict access to their occupation to members of their own status group The main activity of schools is to certify students to particular occupations, not technical job skills Educational credentials are essentially a “status currency” that allows individuals to buy their way into occupational position (Collins
1979) Therefore, educational expansion does not necessarily reflect the economic demands for skills but rather competition among status groups
Trang 2712
legitimizes the existing balance of power within society and allocation systems that assign groups to distinct social positions The primary function of education is to
reproduce the class structure and inequalities Consequently, the expansion of schooling has no necessary connection to changes in technology, and education does not necessarily increase economic growth or labor productivity (Bowles and Gintis 1976; Rubinson
1986)
World institutional theory relates growth in schooling to the legitimacy of education as a functional necessity, a social imperative for both individuals and national development, and argues that schooling has become a worldwide phenomenon States and individuals now “believe” in the power of schooling to teach skills, to increase economic growth, to support the class system, and to legitimate the state These
ideological beliefs and organizational structures constitute education as an institution a set of “taken-for-granted” assumptions that make schooling a necessary component of modern social structures (Boli 1992; Meyer 1992; Ramirez and Vantresca 1992) Therefore, the processes that expand schooling occur within this context of expanded authority As a consequence of these “taken for granted” assumptions, we see non- economic based processes having an effect on educational expansion
Trang 2813
conditional, rather than universal and deterministic into distinct social processes: a human
capital process, a status competition process, a class reproduction process, and an
institutional process This strategy allows for conceptualizing these theories not as competing but as operative under different institutional conditions
The rationale for this approach is based on the assumption that economic factors influence and shape the development of education A further underlying assumption is that social and political factors also shape and influence the structure and development of education If these assumptions are true, then educational expansion is likely to be
determined by many factors such as human capital process, status competition process, class reproduction process, and institutional isomorphism Since social and political factors are likely to shape the development of education, it is less likely the expansion of education will have an effect on economic growth, if the expansion of education is structured to reproduce the class structure, reflects status competition, or institutional isomorphism If the expansion of education reflects the needs for skills required by the economy, then education will have an effect on economic growth
Economic, Social, and Political Processes
In this section, I will first analyze economic, social, and political factors that influence the expansion of education and then I will analyze the effects of education on economic growth, interpreting those effects in terms of the processes that lead to
Trang 2914
The Human Capital Process
An important implication of human capital theory is that schools necessarily create the skills required by the economy and that these skills increase national economic growth Human capital theory assumes, but does not question that schooling creates
economic skills among students or that the economy can utilize these skills Empirical studies have shown that economic effects on economic growth are conditional on the correspondence between levels of schooling and the skill levels demanded in particular sectors of the economy (Fuller, Edwards, and Gorman 1986; Garnier and Hage 1990;
Jeong 1988; Liu and Armer 1993) Furthermore, Rubinson and Fuller (1992) note that
three conditions are necessary for the human capital process to operate First, education
must create the skills required by the economy Second, the economy must be able to absorb the skills created by schooling Third, there must be a close coupling between the
educational and economic systems so that the people with appropriate skills are allocated to jobs that can utilize those skills However, these three conditions do not always occur
For example, class and status processes can prevent schooling from creating the
Trang 3015 The Status Competition Process
In contrast to human capital theory, stratification theories take social structure into
consideration Status competition theory argues that education makes no necessary economic contribution because the primary function of schooling is to allocate people to jobs, whether or not they have the relevant technical skills What generates educational
expansion is not economic needs, but the desire by individuals and groups to increase
their status As educational systems expand, more people obtain the same level of education, and so it becomes necessary for those who wish to obtain or maintain higher status to attain more education Since school expansion is driven by each group’s demand for the greater status that education can buy, rather than by economic needs, there should be no necessary economic effects of increased schooling
For example, case studies from the United States show that school enrollments increase economic growth, but that these effects are weakened to the extent that status competition is salient in the growth of educational enrollments (Rubinson and Ralph
1984; Walters and Rubinson 1983) As Rubinson and Fuller (1992) note, educational
systems in which status competition processes are salient tend to be mass systems in which the supply of schooling is not restricted by political regulations The United States is the classic case These systems tend to be mass systems, rather than elite or class-
structured systems Rubinson and Fuller (1992) argue that educational systems with a
Trang 3116
the quality of education and the content of the curriculum However, not all educational
systems are organized in a way that fosters status competition process Therefore, to the extent that the expansion of schooling reflects status competition, the economic benefits
of schooling will be weakened
The Class Reproduction Process
The basic point of class reproduction theory is that education’s primary function
is to reproduce the class structure (Bowles and Gintis 1976; Carnoy and Levine 1985)
Schools are organized and structured to reproduce the class structure of a capitalist society by producing graduates trained and socialized for work in capitalist enterprises and insuring that children inherit their parent’s class positions That is, students who come from working class backgrounds are more streamed into vocational tracks, while middle-class students are streamed into academic tracks
Rubinson and Fuller (1992) note that educational systems structured to produce
class divisions may weaken economic effects of education in three ways: through the content of the curriculum, through restrictions of enrollments, and through linkage to the civil service First, in upper and middle-class schools, the curriculum typically reflects high culture as opposed to technical, scientific, or vocational training This curriculum is typically built around class relevant cultural capital instead of economically relevant skills Second, in both the upper-class and working-class schools, regulations
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civil service means that these students are more likely to be allocated to jobs in the service sector
For example, a study of France found that the growth of working-class secondary enrollments, but not the middle-class enrollments, had strong effects on economic growth (Hage et al 1988) German secondary and higher education, which also comprise a highly class structured system, show similar effects: working-class effects, but not middle-class effects (Garnier and Hage 1990), implying that the expansion of working- class schooling took place under the condition where human capital process operated, while the expansion of middle-class schooling took place under the condition where the operation of human capital processes was absent These findings suggest that a system of class reproduction limits the economic effects of education because of the structure of schooling Therefore, to the extent that schooling is organized to reproduce the class structure, its contribution to economic growth will be weakened.'
The World Institutional Process
World institutional theory argues that education contributes to economic growth through the legitimation of categories of economic activities or through the legitimation of the mass of the population as competent economic actors (Meyer 1992) What
generates educational expansion is the incorporation and legitimization of a wide range of groups into the polity and economy rather than skill enhancement
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18
For example, large-scale, cross-national studies show that education has some effects on increasing economic growth However, the effects are neither very large nor consistent or uniform, but vary across levels of schooling, time periods, and levels of development (Benavot 1989; Ramirez and Lee 1990) Rubinson and Fuller (1992) note that a standard, uniform model of schooling is increasingly important in shaping the structure of schooling in most countries National educational systems increase their enrollments and develop very similar curricula, independent of the characteristics of their national economic systems Thus, to the extent that the structure and content of
education reflects this process of institutional isomorphism there will be little relationship between education and the economy
Therefore, all four processes, human capital, status competition, class
reproduction, and institutional isomorphism can play a role in expanding education Below, [ outline a baseline model of schooling and economic growth
Baseline Model of Schooling and Economic Growth
Trang 3419
conditions where class reproduction or status competition or institutional isomorphism
processes are salient, its effects will be weakened and there may be no effects of
education on economic growth
To understand the effects of education on economic growth, it is helpful to begin with a baseline model of the human capital model which postulates that education will contribute to economic growth if education creates the skills required by the economy, the economy is able to absorb the skills created by schooling, and that there is a close coupling between the education and economic systems so that people with skills are allocated to jobs that can utilize those skills
Five components of the baseline model pertinent to maximizing the effects of education on economic growth are: the supply of schooling, the quality of education, the
curriculum, characteristics of the economy, and feedback mechanisms (Rubinson and Fuller 1992)
The supply of schooling refers to the number of students enrolled in school at each level of schooling to meet the requirements of the economy It is important to consider school enrollments because there might be too many or too few students enrolled at each level to meet the requirements of the economy Quality of education concerns school characteristics such as teacher qualification, student-teacher ratio, and availability of resources Curriculum refers to the content of what is taught in school and its relevance to the requirements of the economy Characteristics of the economy
Trang 35mechanisms refer to the processes in which the economy signals its requirements to the educational system Feedback processes are important because only if there is a set of such feedback processes, signaling to the schools what kinds of skills the economy needs, and the schools produces those skills, then it will be possible to reproduce the conditions under which the schools contribute to economic growth
Fuller and Rubinson (1992) note that school enrollments, quality of education, and curriculum are important in shaping the character of the educational system Thus, the effects of education on economic growth may be conditional on the close coupling of the educational and economic systems, whereby the economic system signals its needs to the educational system and the educational system produces the skills needed by the economy
Research in this area indicates that a close coupling of the educational and economic systems is important in fostering economic growth (Hage et al 1988; Jeong
1988: Liu and Armer 1993) This research shows that states can insist on a close
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The Relationship Between Education and Economic Growth
In this section, I discuss the relevant empirical evidence from a variety of research studies, looking at the effects of education on economic growth Studies in the United States from 1890 to 1970 found that primary school enrollments contributed to economic output in the period 1900-1928, but had no effects in the period 1933-1969 Secondary school enrollments made no contribution to economic output during earlier period but had significant effects during later period Tertiary enrollments had no effect during either period (Walters and Rubinson 1983) Another study of the United States during the same period found that the expansion of primary and secondary enrollments from
1890-1970 was driven by the dynamics of technical change and status competition During the period 1900-1928, primary school enrollments increased due to the demands of technical change and status competition, secondary enrollments increased due to status competition with no effects of technical change During the later period, 1933-1970 the pattern of effects was different, with primary school enrollments increasing due to status competition with no effects of technical change Secondary enrollments increased due to both technical change and status competition (Rubinson and Ralph 1984)
Rubinson and Fuller (1992) suggest that taken together these findings from the United States imply that greater enrollments do increase economic output, but this effect is weaker to the extent that the increase in enrollments reflect pressures of status
Trang 37threshold before they increase economic output, since the effects on economic growth took place when both primary and secondary education were becoming mass institutions They argue that this may explain the lack of effects of enrollments in tertiary education during this period
A study of the effects of secondary schooling on economic growth in France found that the effects of enrollments varied by type of schooling and by period During the period 1825-1875 secondary school enrollments had no effect on economic output, but had significant effects during the period 1875-1938, but only for enrollments in working-class, not middle-class schools The same pattern of effects was observed in the later period, 1950-1975 (Hage et al 1988) These findings suggest that a system of class
reproduction, as in France weakens the effects of education on economic output because
the effects are found only in the working-class stream Furthermore, Rubinson and Fuller
(1992) imply that this finding reflects the effect of size, since the enrollments in the
working-class schools were large and relatively small in middle-class schools They also imply that the differential effects may also reflect the difference between the classical curriculum of the middle-class schools and the modern curriculum of the working-class schools
Garnier and Hage (1990), in their study of Germany found similar effects During the period 1850-1928 secondary enrollments increased economic growth, but these effects were specific to the mass working-class schools, not elite middle-class school From 1950 to 1975 these effects of mass secondary schooling disappear, but during the same period there are large effects of higher technical, university, and elite secondary
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These findings again suggest that a structure of class reproduction limits the effects of
education on economic output because it limits the size of the elite streams
Studies that analyze the effects of quality found that these effects were more consistent than the effects of quantity as measured by school enrollments A study of Mexico found consistent effects of quality on economic output (Fuller, Edwards, and
Gorman 1986) These effects were stronger on economic output in the manufacturing than in the agricultural sector, indicating that school quality does have an effect on
economic growth Hage et el (1988) found that the quality of working-class schooling
had an effect on economic output, in addition to the significant effect of the expansion of working-class enrollment But no effect was found of the quality of middle-class
schooling In addition, a study of Germany found that quality did have a positive effect in the lower elite secondary stream (Garnier and Hage 1990) These studies suggest that
school quality does have important effects on increasing national economic growth
However, these effects are mediated by the presence of a system of class reproduction
In particular, the effects of quality are dependent on the size of enrollments Quality had
a positive effect only in large working-class tracks, and no effect in the much smaller middle-class track Furthermore, the negative effect of quality at the very small tertiary level suggests that a small enrollment of high quality may actually have negative effects
on economic growth (Rubinson and Fuller 1992)
The same studies of France and Germany also analyzed the effects of the
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schooling on economic growth coincided with the introduction of the modern curriculum for this track The classical curriculum was maintained in the middle-class schools, which showed no effects on economic growth And in Germany, the largest effects on economic growth occurred in the higher technical and university tracks from 1950 to
1975, the period when the curriculum became very scientifically based These studies suggest that a modern, scientifically based curriculum increase economic growth, while a classical curriculum does not
Studies that specify the effects of education by economic sector, as well as by level and type of schooling, show that the effects of education on economic growth are a function of the way in which the state links the supply of schooling to skill level needs in different economic sectors A study of South Korea from 1955 to 1985 found that
primary school enrollments have positive effects on economic output, but the effects were specific to manufacturing and mining sectors, not the agricultural or service sectors Secondary enrollments had an effect on output, but only in the agricultural sector and negative effects in the manufacturing and service sectors Tertiary education had positive effects on agriculture, no effects on manufacturing, and negative effects on service sector output (Jeong 1988) This pattern could be explained by an industrial policy
emphasizing labor-intensive industries using low-skilled, low-wage labor in
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higher skills and knowledge that secondary schools creates, while manufacturing required the lower-level skills of primary schooling
A study of Taiwan from 1953 to 1985 found that the positive effects of mass lower secondary schooling on economic growth, and lack of effects of higher secondary and tertiary education, could be explained by an industrial policy organized around labor-
intensive techniques in both manufacturing and agriculture (Liu and Armer 1993) A study of Mexico reviewed earlier found that over the period 1888-1940 primary school quality increased output in manufacturing but not in agriculture (Fuller et al.1986) These findings can be explained in terms of the correspondence between levels of
schooling and the different skills required by these economic sectors During this period Mexican agriculture saw little technological innovation and required very low skill levels, while manufacturing required some literacy and basic skills
Finally, Garnier and Hage (1990), in their study of Germany also found that the
effects of education on economic growth are stronger where schooling is closely coupled to the demands of the economy From 1850 to 1928, enrollments in higher technical
education, but not university, increased economic output This was because technical
higher education was linked to jobs in industry and commerce, while university education was linked to jobs in civil service and university employment These studies show that the economic effects of education are conditional on a correspondence between the levels of schooling and the skill levels demanded in particular sectors of the economy Thus, the correspondence between the educational and economic systems plays a major role in