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School, what is it good for? Useful Human Capital and the History of Public Education in Central Europe

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  • Tomas Cvrcek
  • Miroslav Zajicek

Abstract

The rise of education has featured prominently in the debate on the sources of modern long-term economic growth. Existing accounts stress the positive role of public education and the importance of political support for its provision. We argue that such an explanation for the spread of schooling is probably a poor fit for many nations' schooling histories and provide an example, using detailed data on schooling supply from the Habsburg Empire. We show that while economic development made schooling more affordable and widespread, the politics of demand for schools was not motivated by expectations of economic development but by the ongoing conflict between nationalities within the Empire. We find that public schools offered practically zero return education on the margin, yet they did enjoy significant political and financial support from local political elites, if they taught in the "right" language of instruction. Our results suggest that, for some countries at least, the main link, historically, went from economic development to public schooling, not the other way round.

Suggested Citation

  • Tomas Cvrcek & Miroslav Zajicek, 2013. "School, what is it good for? Useful Human Capital and the History of Public Education in Central Europe," NBER Working Papers 19690, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19690
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Pawel Bukowski, 2015. "What Determines The Long-Run Persistence of the Empires? The Effect of the Partition of Poland on Education," CEU Working Papers 2015_3, Department of Economics, Central European University.
    2. Cinnirella, Francesco & Schueler, Ruth, 2018. "Nation building: The role of central spending in education," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 18-39.
    3. Francisco J Beltrán Tapia & Alfonso Díez-Minguela & Alicia Gómez-Tello & Julio Martinez-Galarraga & Daniel A Tirado-Fabregats, 2024. "Local institutions and human capital formation in pre-industrial societies: evidence from Valencia," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 28(2), pages 135-162.
    4. Ruth Maria Schüler, 2018. "Education Economics from a Historical Perspective," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 78.
    5. Lant Pritchett & Martina Viarengo, 2015. "The State, Socialisation, and Private Schooling: When Will Governments Support Alternative Producers?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(7), pages 784-807, July.
    6. Andersson, Jens & Berger, Thor, 2016. "Elites and the Expansion of Education in 19th-century Sweden," Lund Papers in Economic History 149, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    7. Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia & Alfonso Díez-Minguela & Alicia Gómez-Tello & Julio Martinez-Galarraga & Daniel A. Tirado-Fabregat, 2021. "Structural change and the income of nations," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2021/414, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    8. Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia & Alfonso Díez-Minguela & Julio Martinez-Galarraga & Daniel A. Tirado-Fabregat, 2020. "Lordships, state capacity and beyond: literacy rates in mid-nineteenth-century Valencia," Working Papers 0196, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    9. Cinnirella, Francesco & Schueler, Ruth, 2016. "The Cost of Decentralization: Linguistic Polarization and the Provision of Education," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145832, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    10. Bukowski, Paweł, 2019. "How history matters for student performance. lessons from the Partitions of Poland," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 136-175.
    11. Bukowski, Paweł, 2018. "How history matters for student performance: lessons from the Partitions of Poland," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 90643, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy
    • N43 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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