Education: The People's Asset

Education, the most easily measured form of human capital, is, like land and other forms of wealth, an asset. Once acquired it cannot be stolen or sold, and as its amount increases, the proportion of other assets in total wealth declines; if education is more equally distributed than other assets, the total concentration of all assets declines. This paper sets out the evidence for a vicious circle in which history, geography and economic policies in Latin America have generated high income inequality; high income inequality has contributed to low and unequal accumulation of education; and low and unequal accumulation of this asset has reduced growth and exacerbated income inequality.