Derek Neal writes that economists must analyze public education policy in the same way they analyze other procurement problems. He shows how standard tools from economics research speak directly to issues in education. For mastering the models and tools that economists of education should use in...

The human capital century -- Inequality across the twentieth century -- Skill-biased technological change -- Origins of the virtues -- Economic foundations of the high school movement -- America's graduation from high school -- Mass higher education in the twentieth century -- The race between...