This macro-level research program attempts to examine how rising levels of educational attainment influence social, political, and economic change, as well as the character and quality of the distribution of society’s many kinds of skills, goods and positions. Specifically, this project looks at the differences between the human capital and sorting arguments, arguing that the effect of education on multiple outcomes works not only through skill-building mechanism, but also through a mechanism of sorting based on ability.
This project will help to uncover how educational mechanisms work and what impact they have on our society over time, while addressing questions about the role of education in social change generating important debates about long-held competing theories of education. In the long term, we plan to continue expanding the project comparatively, using cross-national data to contrast the United States with other countries; we also plan to begin examining the effects of educational attainment in light of the increasing number of educational institutions. The immediate impact of this research will be to correct the existing imbalance in the academic literature on education. Most academics take it as a given that education is primarily about human capital formation. Our work so far shows a need to take the talent-sorting hypothesis more seriously in academic research. In the long term, this research has the potential to impact public policy. A better understanding of the primary function of education will allow public officials to target scarce public resources more efficiently so they will have the biggest positive impact. The first article resulting from this research was recently submitted for publication.
