This work is based on the analysis of the public and private support to education and human capital development in two specific national contexts: the U.S. and Italy. Recent researches have firmly demonstrated the value of higher levels of education for socio-economic development, poverty reduction, higher incomes, employment and eliminating child labour, gender equality. The increased competition and globalization of economic activity, acceleration in technological and scientific knowledge, information revolution and more recently the worldwide economic recession continue to raise the value of education and training in preparing individuals for future employment, upgrading skills for greater workplace mobility, and underpinning wealth creation and economic development through human capital formation. The International Labour Organization (2010) has pointed out the key role played by higher levels of education and skills training in employment and social protection policies. In the Western world, the education industry is complex and diverse. It combines a dominant public sector of schools and universities and community colleges which educate the majority of students; a varied private sector mainly consists of nonprofit organizations that encompass some of the world's most elite education and scientific institutes. The importance of education for economic growth and development is well documented from a historical and economic standpoints. In this research we examine some evolving relationships between the marketplace, the state, and education institutions, knowing that the context of these relations has evolved strikingly in recent years, which have seen three major developments: a growing system differentiation, changing governance patterns, and a diminished direct involvement of governments in the funding and provision of education. Therefore, we are interested in understanding on one hand the possible evolution of the studied phenomenon, and on the other if the experience of a leading country as the U.S. may represent a useful starting point of imitation. So that, our analysis is focused on the investigation, through a period of ten years, of students enrollment according to the willingness to invest in education, independently of the resources needed. In particular, we use the Box-Jenkins methodology to fit data by using an ARIMA model and in order to achieve more information about the phenomenon. Our findings show a similar trend over time both for public and private enrollments although backgrounds and rules are very different in the two nations considered.
