Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
4-2012
Abstract
Universities were first established in Europe around the twelfth century, although primary schools did not appear until the nineteenth. This paper accounts for this phenomenon using a political economy model of educational change on who are educated (the elite or the masses) and what is taught (general or specific/vocational education). A key assumption is that general education is more effective than specific education in enhancing one's skills in a broad range of tasks, including political rent-seeking. Its findings suggest that specific education for the masses is compatible with the elite rule, whereas mass general education is not, which refines the conventional association between education and democracy.
Keywords
General Education, SpeciÖc Education, Elite Education, Mass Education, Long-Run Development
Discipline
Higher Education | Political Economy
Research Areas
Applied Microeconomics
Publication
Economic Enquiry
Volume
50
Issue
2
First Page
418
Last Page
434
ISSN
0095-2583
Identifier
10.1111/j.1465-7295.2010.00308.x
Publisher
Wiley
Citation
HUANG, Fali.
Why Did Universities Precede Primary Schools? A Political Economy Model of Educational Change. (2012). Economic Enquiry. 50, (2), 418-434.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/142
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7295.2010.00308.x