ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between elementary and secondary education and economic development from the state perspective. It seeks to answer the following questions: what are the main functions of education in the age of high technology? and how do a state's explicit or implicit development strategies affect its education policies? These questions also include: how do the public elementary and secondary schools relate to other learning systems? and what is the evidence with respect to the relationships between education and economic development? State education policies must be based on realistic assessments of the major trends affecting economic and human resource development. Three of the most important of these: internationalization, technological change, and certain basic demographic and labor market developments. The evidence reviewed so far makes a fairly compelling case for positive relationships between human capital, education, productivity, and growth and improvements in personal welfare.
