Economics Development - EDUCATION and TECHNOLOGY

EDUCATION

Means

End

Education as a means is the equivalent to being:An (long term) INVESTMENT GOOD.

--> With the final purpose of increasing output.

Education as an end is the equivalent to being:A CONSUMPTION GOOD.

When talking about EDUCATION, it is likely we focus on the one with the HIGHEST RATE OF RETURN:- Tertiary Education- Secondary Education- Primary Education- Vocational Training

There is often a larger focus on PRIMARY education to start off with - providing it as a "BASIC NEED". Working from the foundation.However, as there is further economic development - it is likely that they will move on to higher levels of education (i.e. Secondary) - in Hong Kong.In some developed countries (e.g. Scandinavian Countries), there may even be provision of tertiary education.

ADVANTAGES OF EDUCATION:- Human Capital - Training- Diversifying labour- Encourages Social Mobility (Upward Mobility - allowing the lower income levels to increase their standards of living) - with the aim to decrease inequality overtime. (however, it can be argues that unequal quality/provision of Education: promoting income disparity - the richer get "better" education than the "poor.)- Decreasing family size with education for women. For this, we have to take into consideration the:Qd of children = f(Price of a child: opportunity cost of raising a child x Price of related goods)

DISADVANTAGE OF EDUCATION:- Over-qualification and inefficient resource allocation. Leading to "educated unemployment" - whom have an expectation of salaries. (if this is a valid argument - the most efficient type of education would be vocational training)- Lack of government intervention and subsidies may cause education to be expensive.- It becomes difficult to satisfy all highly educated individuals, this may lead to political instability.

FORMAL vs. INFORMAL (Television, Radio, Distant Learning) -->

TECHNOLOGY

APPROPRIATE

INAPPROPRIATE

Appropriate technology means that the factors provided are in line with FACTOR ENDOWMENT:- Capital- Labour- Land

In 

In appropriate technology can be:- chosen by engineers (the argument of the 'engineering man')- brought in by MNCsThis is mainly caused by distorted factor prices, leading to distorted choice. This is often brought on by:- subsidize interest rates (lower interest rates = more investments)- a minimum wage law

EDUCATION

TECHNOLOGY