Education and Inequality in North America in the Long Term with Special Reference to the United States

Trends in inequality and education in the United States are well known thanks to the research and publications by Goldin and Katz (The Race Between Education and Technology. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2008) and Lindert and Williamson (Unequal Gains: American Growth and Inequality Since 1700. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 2016) among others. Since the last third of the nineteenth century, and even before (Engerman and Sokoloff in Economic Development in the Americas Since 1500: Endowments and Institutions. Cambridge University Press and NBER, New York, 2012) decentralized institutions at the local and county level and latter the States supplied public education starting with primary education and evolving to secondary and College education. Education was skill biased but supply grew at the same path than demand till the last third of the century. After the 1970s demand was higher than supply leading to the increase of inequality. Rightward political shifts, acceleration in the adoption of labor saving technologies, the massive rise in labor-intensive imports from emerging nations born by the second era of globalization and the explosion of financial activity after six decades of tighter regulation are all factors that also help to explain this last rise of inequality according to Lindert and Williamson.