That humans would make provision for the development of their offspring is to be expected, given the length of time between birth and maturity we experience as a species. And there is evidence from early in recorded human history of provision for apprenticeship and markets in training and instruction. Nevertheless, it is only in the last few centuries that provision of formal instruction and schooling has become widespread and indeed has become a gauge of potential for economic development. Economists since Adam Smith, if not earlier, have argued that the performance of an economy has been infiuenced by the education of its work force (Johnson 1937). These developments call for consideration of both the causes and consequences of the rise of education in historical perspective. © 2013 selection and editorial material, Robert Whaples and Randall E. Parker.
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