ABSTRACT
The United States and the United Kingdom are major sources for the free market and human capital concepts incorporated into the educational policies of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank. Consequently, it is important to consider the development of global education policies in these two nations. Although the United Kingdom is a member of the European Union, it is necessary to examine its educational development apart from this affiliation because of the key role its colonial policies played in forming the global economy and its strong adherence to free market economics. This chapter examines the effect of free market and human resource economics on education policies in government administrations from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to Prime Minister Tony Blair in the United Kingdom, and from President Ronald Reagan to President Bill Clinton in the United States.
