I am delighted to report that Princeton University Press will be publishing The Case Against Education in 2017. PUP was an excellent partner for The Myth of the Rational Voter, and I’m looking forward to doing business together again. And to get self-referential, a book-length defense of the empirical importance of the signaling model of education really needs to signal its credibility with a prestigious academic publisher. 🙂
Mar 31 2016
In yesterday's Washington Post, Charles Lane reports on the move, that's almost a done deal, to raise California's minimum wage in stages to a whopping $15 an hour by 2022. Lane, or his editors, wisely titled the article, "The risks of California's minimum-wage increase." Lane writes: By 2022, when fully phased in (sm...
Mar 31 2016
The Keynesian view of fiscal policy is an ever-changing theory. In the 1960s, it was believed that fiscal stimulus was needed during recessions. In the 1990s, Keynesians argued that fiscal policy was not an appropriate stabilization tool, rather monetary policy should be employed. Then after 2008, Keynesians suggest...
Mar 31 2016
I am delighted to report that Princeton University Press will be publishing The Case Against Education in 2017. PUP was an excellent partner for The Myth of the Rational Voter, and I'm looking forward to doing business together again. And to get self-referential, a book-length defense of the empirical impor...
READER COMMENTS
The Original CC
Mar 31 2016 at 12:10pm
You once asked something along the lines of, “Would you rather have a Harvard education with no degree or a degree from Harvard with no education?” The idea is that if you even have to think about it, then you’re admitting that education is mostly signalling.
Here’s an alternate conclusion: Going to Harvard actually does build human capital; it’s not signalling. But given a choice between the education and the degree, you could easily justify taking just the degree. After all, employers will (incorrectly) infer that you learned all sorts of skills in school, just like the other Harvard graduates did. So you’ll get the benefit of the degree, even though Harvard really is teaching real skills.
austrartsua
Apr 1 2016 at 5:44pm
Hehe Princeton University and an academic write a book arguing for their own obliteration! Delightful.
Although, I suppose academics should hang around doing research even when undergrad education is scaled back by what, about 90%?. Then again, is state-funded research desirable or should it be completely funded through private voluntary organizations? I think so. In which case a lot of academics would have to go out and get real jobs. Funnily I am also in academia as a PhD student!
Anyway really looking forward to it, wish I didn’t have to wait another year!
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