Retorno da ação

The two economists looked at 1,120 studies, across 139 countries, and came up with an annual average “rate of return”—actually a pay premium, the increase in hourly earnings from an extra year of schooling—of 8.8%. The analogy is inexact, but for comparison America’s stockmarket returned an annual 5.6% over the past 50 years.

Their figure excludes social gains, such as lower mortality rates associated with greater education. The premium is higher for girls and for primary education. It is also higher in poor countries, presumably because the smaller the share of educated people, the higher the pay they can command. The same reasoning suggests that the return should have dwindled as educational attainment rose.

Fonte: The Economist. Mas atenção. O fato do retorno ser elevado, não significa que a educação causa prosperidade para um país. Conforme destaca Bryan Caplan, é preciso ter cuidado com a causalidade inversa.