Why Did Universities Precede Primary Schools? A Political Economy Model of Educational Change

• Main Author: HUANG, Fali
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2009
• Subjects: General Education; Specific Education; Elite Education; Mass Education; Long-Run Development.; Behavioral Economics; Economics; Higher Education
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/1306; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soe_research/article/2305/viewcontent/Huang_GenSpecEdu2009_8_20title.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Universities were first established in Europe around the twelfth century, while 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, while mass general education is not, which refines the conventional association between education and democracy.