The Returns to Education: Microeconomics
从微观经济学角度，将教育视为个人对人力资本的投资，并估计其私人回报率。尽管估计方法存在争议，但基于多种数据和模型，证据表明教育对个人收入有显著正向影响，且回报率高于其他投资。
In this paper we focus on education as a private decision to invest in “human capital” and the estimation of the rate of return to that private investment. While the literature is replete with studies that estimate the rate of return using regression methods where the estimated return is obtained as the coefficient on a years of education variable in a log wage equation that contains controls for work experience and other individual characteristics, the issue is surrounded with difficulties. We outline the theoretical arguments underpinning the empirical developments and show that the evidence on private returns to the individual is compelling. Despite some of these issues surrounding the estimation of the return to schooling, our evidence, based on estimates from a variety of datasets and specifications, is that there is an unambiguously positive effect on the earnings of an individual from participation in education. Moreover, the size of the effect seems large relative to the returns on other investments.