Abstract
This paper describes the long-term global trends in education inequality since 1870. Inequality in years of schooling is shown
to have mechanically decreased along with the decline in the share of illiterate people. In search of a monetary equivalent
of years of schooling, we turn to Mincer (1974) human capital ineq uality. Within countries, we find evidence of an inverted U-shape curve for human capital inequality
over time, namely a Kuznets curve for human capital. At the global level, the world inequality in human capital has followed
a similar trajectory, first increasing from 1870 to 1970, then decreasing.
to have mechanically decreased along with the decline in the share of illiterate people. In search of a monetary equivalent
of years of schooling, we turn to Mincer (1974) human capital ineq uality. Within countries, we find evidence of an inverted U-shape curve for human capital inequality
over time, namely a Kuznets curve for human capital. At the global level, the world inequality in human capital has followed
a similar trajectory, first increasing from 1870 to 1970, then decreasing.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-19
- DOI 10.1007/s10888-012-9227-2
- Authors
- Christian Morrisson, Université Paris I, 36 Chemin Desvallières, 92410, Ville d’Avray, France
- Fabrice Murtin, OECD, Paris, France
- Journal Journal of Economic Inequality
- Online ISSN 1573-8701
- Print ISSN 1569-1721