Econlog Main | Archive Main | Help and FAQ | Search
Specific Archives: Date Archive | Author Archive | Category Archive
« The Education of Educators | Bryan on Education | David Friedman on Taxis and Tipping »

ABOUT THIS ARTICLE

Read Comments (6)

TrackBacks (1)

Categories

More articles by Arnold Kling

SEARCH


Advanced Search

RSS FEEDS

Subscribe to EconLog's news feed:

RDF (Excerpts)
XML (Full articles)

FAQ (What are these RSS feeds all about?)

Register for Econlib's monthly newsletter

March 18, 2007

Bryan on Education

Arnold Kling

I like his first post on this new book idea better than his second.

I agree that the demand for education is artificially high. However, I disagree that the main reason for this is that education primarily performs a signaling function. I think that if it were all signaling, then we would observe lots of competing forms of signals in the market.

I suspect that there are multiple causal factors for the artificially high demand for education. You can start with the fact that it's compulsory. You can add in government subsidies, plus the subsidies provided by alumni donations.

Another big distortion is credentialism. Sure, you might be a good lawyer without going to law school. And you might be a good physical therapist without suffering through a liberal arts education and two or three years of post-graduate education. But try getting a license!

In addition to the state-enforced credentialism, there is informal credentialism. Lots of academic departments will not consider hiring anyone without the right credentials (not just a Ph.D, but a Ph.D from an acceptable program). Lots of alumni of top business schools look for other alumni when they fill positions.

I would also caution that most people are not autodidacts. They do not learn enough on their own initiative. Not knowing what to learn or how to go about learning, they are bound to waste a lot of time in their education process. It is possible that, as inefficient as education appears to be, for these non-autodidacts, it is less inefficient and wasteful than if they floundered trying to determine for themselves what it is that they need to learn.


RETURN TO: Econlog Main | Archives | Top of page

READ MORE: Comments (6) | TrackBacks (1)

CATEGORIES: Economics of Education (169)


Instructions / Advanced Search
COMMENTS (6 to date)
Latest Comment [No. 6] | Trackbacks (1)

Taimyoboi writes:

"In addition to the state-enforced credentialism, there is informal credentialism."

Is credentialism really that different from signaling? Wouldn't credentialism/signaling exist even if the state didn't require it for some licenses?

That educational institutions demand a signal for teaching absent state intervention seems to me to suggest that credentialism/signaling would exist anyway.

Posted March 19, 2007 08:50 AM

Tyler Kirkpatrick writes:

I think the main reason people go to get a higher education is because of the opportunities it opens up. Higher education helps people learn how to use resources around them to better themselves as well as the people they work with. Obviously people go to college for other reasons but I think the main reason is opportunity. When your credentials are right and you have the knowledge you need, you are capable of making more money.

Posted March 19, 2007 12:42 PM

aaron writes:

Easy, academia works a protection racket for high paying jobs.

Posted March 19, 2007 01:02 PM

Matt writes:

It may be biological that after the age of puberty only pathological compulsion keeps a person in the classroom.

Posted March 19, 2007 06:42 PM

Bill writes:

I would also caution that most people are not autodidacts.

True, but that's no excuse to discriminate against those that are. Creeping credentialism is anti-autodidact. Why discriminate against autodidacts? To keep the least effective educators employed.

Posted March 20, 2007 05:19 AM

Eric Wilson writes:

I like the issue of education, being in high demand in a high quanity. I believe for me, and i want to believe that this is true for most young people in America is that we want to achieve higher education to better ourseleves in the future. In todays world as we all know you have to have a college degree to achieve a nice job with good pay and lots of benefits.This is good for the economy as well because we are the future of where this country is headed economically. I think it is a good sign to see that education is in a high demand for or country's sake.

Posted March 20, 2007 10:31 AM
TRACKBACKS (1 to date)
The author at Modeled Behavior in a related article titled "Arnold Makes a Good Point," writes:
    Arnold's point about self education is well taken. There is a strong possibility that part of what students are buying is "personal training" for knowledge. That is, they need some guidance about what to learn and more importantly they need an acc...... [Read more]
Posted March 19, 2007 11:51 AM

RETURN TO: Econlog Main | Archives | Top of page

READ MORE: Comments (6) | TrackBacks (1)

Econlog Main | Archives | Help and FAQ
Categories | Start of Comments | Top of the Page

 
Copyright ©: 1999-2007, Liberty Fund, Inc.
Blogging software: Powered by Movable Type 3.121.
The cuneiform inscription in the logo is the earliest-known written appearance of the word "freedom" (amagi), or "liberty." It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash.
Pictures of Arnold Kling and Bryan Caplan courtesy of the authors.
All opinions expressed on EconLog reflect those of the author or individual commenters, and do not necessarily represent the views or positions of the Library of Economics and Liberty (Econlib) website or its owners.
The URL for this site is: http://www.econlib.org. Please direct questions or comments about the website to webmaster@econlib.org.