The Race Between Education and Technology
 |
Description
Book Introduction
Claudia Goldin, Nobel Prize winner in economics
A monumental work analyzing the causes of inequality in modern America!
Many people cite inequality as one of the most important problems in the modern economy.
Depending on one's perspective, economic inequality may be considered a natural consequence of the market, but it is undeniable that inequality has worsened in the United States since the 1980s compared to before.
So what has caused economic inequality to widen over the past 30 to 40 years? Claudia Goldin, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics, and Lawrence Katz of Harvard University refute the conventional wisdom that technological advancements, which prioritize worker skill (increasing demand for skilled workers), have led to a rise in the income share of highly skilled workers (highly educated individuals), exacerbating inequality.
According to them, the weakening of the supply of skilled workers, that is, the educational aspect, has had a greater impact on the widening of inequality in the United States.
They propose a simple yet useful conceptual framework, the Race between Education and Technology (RBET), that can help us understand long-term changes in inequality.
The three keywords of this book—technological change, education, and inequality—have been intricately intertwined in a kind of "race."
During the first three quarters of the 20th century, the increase in the supply of skilled workers due to advances in education outpaced the increase in demand for skilled workers due to technological change.
And while real incomes increased, inequality decreased.
But in the last two decades of the 20th century, the opposite happened, and inequality increased rapidly.
In short, in the first half of the 20th century, education outpaced technology in the race, and in the second half, technology outpaced educational progress.
Technology has been skill-biased throughout the 20th century, and the pace of technological change has barely changed.
The sharp rise in inequality was largely due to the slowdown in educational growth [rather than technological factors].
“The most important book on inequality in modern America.” _Tyler Cowen, George Mason University
"The Race Between Education and Technology" will serve as a crucial policy prescription for addressing the shift in income distribution, its causes, and the deepening inequality.
“This book is the best empirical economics ever written.” _Lawrence Summers, former president of Harvard University
A monumental work analyzing the causes of inequality in modern America!
Many people cite inequality as one of the most important problems in the modern economy.
Depending on one's perspective, economic inequality may be considered a natural consequence of the market, but it is undeniable that inequality has worsened in the United States since the 1980s compared to before.
So what has caused economic inequality to widen over the past 30 to 40 years? Claudia Goldin, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics, and Lawrence Katz of Harvard University refute the conventional wisdom that technological advancements, which prioritize worker skill (increasing demand for skilled workers), have led to a rise in the income share of highly skilled workers (highly educated individuals), exacerbating inequality.
According to them, the weakening of the supply of skilled workers, that is, the educational aspect, has had a greater impact on the widening of inequality in the United States.
They propose a simple yet useful conceptual framework, the Race between Education and Technology (RBET), that can help us understand long-term changes in inequality.
The three keywords of this book—technological change, education, and inequality—have been intricately intertwined in a kind of "race."
During the first three quarters of the 20th century, the increase in the supply of skilled workers due to advances in education outpaced the increase in demand for skilled workers due to technological change.
And while real incomes increased, inequality decreased.
But in the last two decades of the 20th century, the opposite happened, and inequality increased rapidly.
In short, in the first half of the 20th century, education outpaced technology in the race, and in the second half, technology outpaced educational progress.
Technology has been skill-biased throughout the 20th century, and the pace of technological change has barely changed.
The sharp rise in inequality was largely due to the slowdown in educational growth [rather than technological factors].
“The most important book on inequality in modern America.” _Tyler Cowen, George Mason University
"The Race Between Education and Technology" will serve as a crucial policy prescription for addressing the shift in income distribution, its causes, and the deepening inequality.
“This book is the best empirical economics ever written.” _Lawrence Summers, former president of Harvard University
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
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index
Praise poured in for this book
Preface to the Korean edition
introduction
Part 1: Economic Growth and Distribution
Chapter 1: The Century of Human Capital
Chapter 2: Inequality in the 20th Century
Chapter 3: Skill-Biased Technological Change
Part 2: Three Great Transitions Toward Popularizing Education
Chapter 4: The Origin of Virtue
Chapter 5: The Economic Foundation of High School Athletics
Chapter 6: Americans Graduating from High School
Chapter 7: The Popularization of University Education in the 20th Century
Part 3 race
Chapter 8: The Race Between Education and Technology
Chapter 9: How America Once Led the World, and How Can It Win This Race in the Future?
Acknowledgements
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
main
References
Search
Preface to the Korean edition
introduction
Part 1: Economic Growth and Distribution
Chapter 1: The Century of Human Capital
Chapter 2: Inequality in the 20th Century
Chapter 3: Skill-Biased Technological Change
Part 2: Three Great Transitions Toward Popularizing Education
Chapter 4: The Origin of Virtue
Chapter 5: The Economic Foundation of High School Athletics
Chapter 6: Americans Graduating from High School
Chapter 7: The Popularization of University Education in the 20th Century
Part 3 race
Chapter 8: The Race Between Education and Technology
Chapter 9: How America Once Led the World, and How Can It Win This Race in the Future?
Acknowledgements
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
main
References
Search
Detailed image
Into the book
By the end of the 20th century, almost every country knew what the United States knew at the beginning of the century.
The human capital embodied in the people of a country is the most fundamental element of national wealth.
While other inputs, such as natural resources or financial capital, can be purchased at market prices on the global market, the efficiency of a country's labor force cannot.
Increased education not only increases the efficiency of the workforce, but also makes people more receptive to all kinds of changes, including the introduction of new technologies.
Better education also allows exceptionally talented individuals to invent new technologies themselves.
--- p.67, from “Chapter 1: The Century of Human Capital”
The late 19th and early 20th centuries, when fears of inequality began to be expressed socially and politically, coincide with a period when, based on our empirical evidence, the breadth of the wage structure and the financial returns to education were likely greatest.
However, there is less empirical evidence on income and wealth for this earlier period.
At the time, voices about the harm inequality would do to society focused on the accumulation of vast amounts of wealth in the hands of a few and class divisions rather than on the distribution of labor income.
But as Paul Douglas so clearly recognized, the rise of big business, coupled with the growing demand for better-educated workers, gave those fortunate enough to have access to education beyond elementary school a huge economic advantage, making them the "non-competitive group."
But a system adopted by thousands of school districts in the form of "high school activism" has mitigated these inequalities.
This could be called the largest grassroots movement in American history.
It was probably the success of the popularization of secondary education that allowed the more extreme forms of socialism that were later adopted in Europe to be controlled in the United States.
--- p.127, from “Chapter 2 Inequality in the 20th Century”
The establishment and nationwide expansion of publicly funded elementary schools was the first major shift in American educational history.
Even before free education became mandatory in many states with the formal abolition of tuition, Americans far outpaced other countries in terms of the number of years of schooling they completed.
Free public elementary education had spread nearly everywhere in the United States by the 1870s, laying the foundation for the next great expansion of education.
The next step was the growth of public 'high schools'.
America's commitment to and practice of publicly provided, and later publicly funded, schooling began with the desire to create educated and informed citizens capable of voting and holding public office in a democratic society.
Then, by the end of the nineteenth century, or perhaps even before that, if we take a cue from Horace Mann's Fifth Annual Report, schooling was increasingly seen as a means of acquiring the basic skills needed in the world of work, and more generally for making a living, as it is today.
--- p.233, from “Chapter 4: The Origin of Virtue”
In the race between technology and education, education took the lead in the first half of the 20th century, and technology took the lead in the last three decades.
This race not only brought about economic expansion, but also determined which group would reap the fruits of that growth.
But which of these two factors—technology and education—caused the decline in inequality in the early 20th century and the subsequent increase? The extent of technological change and the growing demand for highly skilled and educated workers were common across both periods.
Although there were periods of faster and somewhat slower growth, in general the rate of increase in the relative demand for highly educated workers (relative to less educated workers) was fairly constant throughout the period 1915 to 2005.
During the 20th century, the major shift in trends was on the supply side, not the demand side.
The change in the growth rate of the supply of more educated workers was a decisive factor in changing the trend of inequality.
Moreover, changes in the supply of more educated, "American-born" workers had a greater impact on the change in the skilled labor supply than changes in immigration.
In other words, changes in the level of education Americans received in the United States were the most important factor in changes in the level of education of the entire American workforce.
--- p.404, from “Chapter 8: The Race between Education and Technology”
Technological change can create winners and losers.
Distribution problems are more likely to arise when technological change is skill-biased, that is, when new technologies increase the relative demand for workers with higher education and skill levels.
As technology advances, a country's economy expands, but the incomes of some people may increase significantly more than those of others.
If workers have flexible skills and a well-developed educational infrastructure, the supply of skills will increase along with demand.
Then, economic growth and the skills premium will be balanced, and prosperity will be widely shared, without either technology or education winning the race.
External factors can also cause changes in the demand and supply of skills.
If migrant workers at the bottom of the skill distribution move in at a disproportionate rate, the incomes of their closest substitutes will be significantly affected.
Shifting international trade patterns and offshoring could also alter the demand for skilled workers.
--- p.439, from “Chapter 8: The Race between Education and Technology”
Investing in education can have a number of beneficial effects for those who choose to pursue more education, and it can also benefit the nation as a whole by growing the economy and reducing or reversing trends in inequality.
However, it takes a long time for increased spending on education to have an effect on reducing inequality, and it will take even longer for the effect to be achieved if the education spending is on young children before they start school.
Moreover, policies related to education will be largely ineffective in addressing the growing concentration of wealth and income among those at the top of the income distribution (the top 1%).
Therefore, policies to increase investment in education should be implemented in conjunction with other policies that can directly affect how the fruits of economic growth are distributed.
The human capital embodied in the people of a country is the most fundamental element of national wealth.
While other inputs, such as natural resources or financial capital, can be purchased at market prices on the global market, the efficiency of a country's labor force cannot.
Increased education not only increases the efficiency of the workforce, but also makes people more receptive to all kinds of changes, including the introduction of new technologies.
Better education also allows exceptionally talented individuals to invent new technologies themselves.
--- p.67, from “Chapter 1: The Century of Human Capital”
The late 19th and early 20th centuries, when fears of inequality began to be expressed socially and politically, coincide with a period when, based on our empirical evidence, the breadth of the wage structure and the financial returns to education were likely greatest.
However, there is less empirical evidence on income and wealth for this earlier period.
At the time, voices about the harm inequality would do to society focused on the accumulation of vast amounts of wealth in the hands of a few and class divisions rather than on the distribution of labor income.
But as Paul Douglas so clearly recognized, the rise of big business, coupled with the growing demand for better-educated workers, gave those fortunate enough to have access to education beyond elementary school a huge economic advantage, making them the "non-competitive group."
But a system adopted by thousands of school districts in the form of "high school activism" has mitigated these inequalities.
This could be called the largest grassroots movement in American history.
It was probably the success of the popularization of secondary education that allowed the more extreme forms of socialism that were later adopted in Europe to be controlled in the United States.
--- p.127, from “Chapter 2 Inequality in the 20th Century”
The establishment and nationwide expansion of publicly funded elementary schools was the first major shift in American educational history.
Even before free education became mandatory in many states with the formal abolition of tuition, Americans far outpaced other countries in terms of the number of years of schooling they completed.
Free public elementary education had spread nearly everywhere in the United States by the 1870s, laying the foundation for the next great expansion of education.
The next step was the growth of public 'high schools'.
America's commitment to and practice of publicly provided, and later publicly funded, schooling began with the desire to create educated and informed citizens capable of voting and holding public office in a democratic society.
Then, by the end of the nineteenth century, or perhaps even before that, if we take a cue from Horace Mann's Fifth Annual Report, schooling was increasingly seen as a means of acquiring the basic skills needed in the world of work, and more generally for making a living, as it is today.
--- p.233, from “Chapter 4: The Origin of Virtue”
In the race between technology and education, education took the lead in the first half of the 20th century, and technology took the lead in the last three decades.
This race not only brought about economic expansion, but also determined which group would reap the fruits of that growth.
But which of these two factors—technology and education—caused the decline in inequality in the early 20th century and the subsequent increase? The extent of technological change and the growing demand for highly skilled and educated workers were common across both periods.
Although there were periods of faster and somewhat slower growth, in general the rate of increase in the relative demand for highly educated workers (relative to less educated workers) was fairly constant throughout the period 1915 to 2005.
During the 20th century, the major shift in trends was on the supply side, not the demand side.
The change in the growth rate of the supply of more educated workers was a decisive factor in changing the trend of inequality.
Moreover, changes in the supply of more educated, "American-born" workers had a greater impact on the change in the skilled labor supply than changes in immigration.
In other words, changes in the level of education Americans received in the United States were the most important factor in changes in the level of education of the entire American workforce.
--- p.404, from “Chapter 8: The Race between Education and Technology”
Technological change can create winners and losers.
Distribution problems are more likely to arise when technological change is skill-biased, that is, when new technologies increase the relative demand for workers with higher education and skill levels.
As technology advances, a country's economy expands, but the incomes of some people may increase significantly more than those of others.
If workers have flexible skills and a well-developed educational infrastructure, the supply of skills will increase along with demand.
Then, economic growth and the skills premium will be balanced, and prosperity will be widely shared, without either technology or education winning the race.
External factors can also cause changes in the demand and supply of skills.
If migrant workers at the bottom of the skill distribution move in at a disproportionate rate, the incomes of their closest substitutes will be significantly affected.
Shifting international trade patterns and offshoring could also alter the demand for skilled workers.
--- p.439, from “Chapter 8: The Race between Education and Technology”
Investing in education can have a number of beneficial effects for those who choose to pursue more education, and it can also benefit the nation as a whole by growing the economy and reducing or reversing trends in inequality.
However, it takes a long time for increased spending on education to have an effect on reducing inequality, and it will take even longer for the effect to be achieved if the education spending is on young children before they start school.
Moreover, policies related to education will be largely ineffective in addressing the growing concentration of wealth and income among those at the top of the income distribution (the top 1%).
Therefore, policies to increase investment in education should be implemented in conjunction with other policies that can directly affect how the fruits of economic growth are distributed.
--- p.483, from Chapter 9, “How America Once Led the World, and How Can It Win This Race in the Future?”
Publisher's Review
The race between education and technology
How to Change Inequality
Many people cite inequality as one of the most important problems in the modern economy.
Depending on one's perspective, economic inequality may be considered a natural consequence of the market, but it is undeniable that inequality has worsened in the United States since the 1980s compared to before.
So what is the cause of the widening economic inequality over the past 30 to 40 years?
Claudia Goldin, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics, and Lawrence Katz of Harvard University refute the conventional wisdom that technological advancements that prioritize worker skills (increase demand for skilled workers) have led to a rise in the income share of highly skilled workers (highly educated people) and a rise in inequality.
According to them, the weakening of the supply of skilled workers, that is, the educational aspect, has had a greater impact on the widening of inequality in the United States.
They propose a simple yet useful conceptual framework, the Race between Education and Technology (RBET), that can help us understand long-term changes in inequality.
The three keywords of this book—technological change, education, and inequality—have been intricately intertwined in a kind of "race."
During the first three quarters of the 20th century, the increase in the supply of skilled workers due to advances in education outpaced the increase in demand for skilled workers due to technological change.
And while real incomes increased, inequality decreased.
But in the last two decades of the 20th century, the opposite happened, and inequality increased rapidly.
In short, in the first half of the 20th century, education outpaced technology in the race, and in the second half, technology outpaced educational progress.
Technology has been skill-biased throughout the 20th century, and the pace of technological change has barely changed.
The sharp rise in inequality was largely due to the slowdown in educational growth [rather than technological factors].
Captured through data covering 100 years of American education history
The Causal Relationship Between Education Expansion, Technological Innovation, and Gap
Part 1, "Economic Growth and Distribution," provides an overview of the three phenomena of educational expansion, technological innovation, and widening inequality in the United States from the 20th century to the present.
First, it points out that the improvement of human capital through education was behind the economic growth of the United States in the 20th century.
Years of education per birth cohort increased steadily through the 1950s, plateaued slightly in the 1960s, and then rose again gradually.
Not only was the economy doing well, but the gap was also small.
The economic gap in the United States showed a tendency to narrow until the 1970s, but began to widen in the 1980s. One factor that contributed to the widening gap was that the quality of technological innovation itself changed to a skill-biased one.
'Skill-biased technological change' refers to a situation in which the demand for relatively more highly educated and highly skilled workers increases due to the introduction of new technologies, changes in production methods, and changes in labor organization methods, when the relative wages of more highly educated workers (e.g., college graduates) and less skilled workers (e.g., non-college graduates) are fixed.
It has been assumed that this will lead to a wage gap between educational backgrounds, but if supply matches the increasing demand, the gap will not occur.
Ultimately, the factor behind the widening gap is the shortage of highly skilled labor, namely the slowdown in educational expansion.
Part 2, "Three Great Transitions to Mass Education," analyzes the progress of education expansion in the United States using government statistics and state statistics, including Iowa data compiled independently by the authors.
The rapid expansion of education in the United States compared to Europe was due to the existence of six virtues that supported the American education system.
The six virtues are 'publicly provided education (establishment of public schools),' 'numerous financially independent school districts (decentralization, competition between school districts),' 'free education,' 'non-sectarian public education,' 'public education regardless of gender (gender neutrality),' and 'open and tolerant system (popularization of education),' all of which contain egalitarian elements unique to the United States.
Unlike Europe, where only a select few could afford higher education, formal school-based education in the United States has enabled young people to change careers throughout their lives, equipping them with the necessary skills and enabling them to respond more quickly to technological change.
Part 3, "Gyeongju," points out that the gap between the supply of labor due to expanded education and the demand due to technological innovation is widening and narrowing due to a competition for speed between the two.
The wage gap between educational levels narrowed from 1915 to the 1970s, but widened after the 1980s.
Between 1915 and 2005, the demand for college-educated workers increased at a steady rate.
Between 1915 and 1980, the supply of college-educated workers rapidly increased, putting downward pressure on the university wage premium. However, after the 1980s, the increase in the supply of college-educated workers slowed significantly, leading to an increase in the college wage premium.
That is, we can see that supply has not been able to keep up with the expanding demand for college-educated workers since the 1980s.
Using extensive data spanning 100 years, the two authors conclude that the lack of a highly educated workforce due to the slowdown in educational expansion is the cause of the widening gap.
The collapse of the American Dream, the rapid advancement of AI technology…
Can education save humanity from the swamp of inequality?
As the title of this book suggests, if we compare educational development and technological progress to a race, educational development was ahead of technological progress until the early to mid-20th century, but during the last 30 years of the 20th century, educational progress lagged behind technological progress.
As the intergenerational trend of increasing educational attainment, where children far surpassed their parents', has stalled, the premise that "children will be better off than their parents," which was at the core of the "American Dream," has begun to waver.
In other words, in the first half of the 20th century, because educational progress was sufficient, the speed of supplying high-level talent was sufficient to keep pace with technological progress, but in the latter half, as the pace of educational development slowed, it could not keep up with technological progress, and the wage gap widened.
Why did education lag behind in the race?
The two authors point out that the "virtues" that once brought about the expansion of education at all levels have become stumbling blocks to modern American education.
First, the decentralized financial system actually resulted in exacerbating inequality.
There was a strong tendency for residential districts to be distinct from those in high-income and low-income households, and the idea of fiscal independence was inseparable from the fact that some school districts were richer and others poorer.
Disparities in the quality of education have emerged across regions, posing a significant challenge for children who commute to school in districts with poorly functioning public education, particularly in low-income areas.
Furthermore, while open and tolerant systems offer a second chance to disadvantaged and disengaged children, the lack of rigorous standards has led to a decline in the quality of education.
Also noteworthy are the two authors' policy recommendations for improving educational outcomes and increasing the supply of college-educated workers.
Goldin and Katz argue that we need to expand quality preschool education for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, improve the quality of K-12 education so that more students are academically prepared for college, and expand scholarships to help students who are academically prepared for college pursue higher education.
In a time when technological advancements that were meant to advance human prosperity are now threatening humanity, the days when having a high school diploma or college diploma was considered indispensable are long gone.
This is especially true when the skills I possess can be imitated or replaced by a computer program.
In that sense, "Education and Technology Race" can provide profound insights into how rapid technological advancements, particularly AI (artificial intelligence), will change the nature of labor and job demand, and what role education can play in addressing these changes.
In Korea, too, inequality and the widening gap between classes have long been serious social problems.
The perspective of "The Race Between Education and Technology," which explains the widening gap through technological innovation and changes in educational accessibility, is significant in explaining the patterns of economic inequality that have occurred not only in the United States but also around the world. Beyond the framework of a simple study of American history, it will also offer significant implications for the gap and educational issues in Korean society, which has looked to the United States as a growth model.
How to Change Inequality
Many people cite inequality as one of the most important problems in the modern economy.
Depending on one's perspective, economic inequality may be considered a natural consequence of the market, but it is undeniable that inequality has worsened in the United States since the 1980s compared to before.
So what is the cause of the widening economic inequality over the past 30 to 40 years?
Claudia Goldin, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics, and Lawrence Katz of Harvard University refute the conventional wisdom that technological advancements that prioritize worker skills (increase demand for skilled workers) have led to a rise in the income share of highly skilled workers (highly educated people) and a rise in inequality.
According to them, the weakening of the supply of skilled workers, that is, the educational aspect, has had a greater impact on the widening of inequality in the United States.
They propose a simple yet useful conceptual framework, the Race between Education and Technology (RBET), that can help us understand long-term changes in inequality.
The three keywords of this book—technological change, education, and inequality—have been intricately intertwined in a kind of "race."
During the first three quarters of the 20th century, the increase in the supply of skilled workers due to advances in education outpaced the increase in demand for skilled workers due to technological change.
And while real incomes increased, inequality decreased.
But in the last two decades of the 20th century, the opposite happened, and inequality increased rapidly.
In short, in the first half of the 20th century, education outpaced technology in the race, and in the second half, technology outpaced educational progress.
Technology has been skill-biased throughout the 20th century, and the pace of technological change has barely changed.
The sharp rise in inequality was largely due to the slowdown in educational growth [rather than technological factors].
Captured through data covering 100 years of American education history
The Causal Relationship Between Education Expansion, Technological Innovation, and Gap
Part 1, "Economic Growth and Distribution," provides an overview of the three phenomena of educational expansion, technological innovation, and widening inequality in the United States from the 20th century to the present.
First, it points out that the improvement of human capital through education was behind the economic growth of the United States in the 20th century.
Years of education per birth cohort increased steadily through the 1950s, plateaued slightly in the 1960s, and then rose again gradually.
Not only was the economy doing well, but the gap was also small.
The economic gap in the United States showed a tendency to narrow until the 1970s, but began to widen in the 1980s. One factor that contributed to the widening gap was that the quality of technological innovation itself changed to a skill-biased one.
'Skill-biased technological change' refers to a situation in which the demand for relatively more highly educated and highly skilled workers increases due to the introduction of new technologies, changes in production methods, and changes in labor organization methods, when the relative wages of more highly educated workers (e.g., college graduates) and less skilled workers (e.g., non-college graduates) are fixed.
It has been assumed that this will lead to a wage gap between educational backgrounds, but if supply matches the increasing demand, the gap will not occur.
Ultimately, the factor behind the widening gap is the shortage of highly skilled labor, namely the slowdown in educational expansion.
Part 2, "Three Great Transitions to Mass Education," analyzes the progress of education expansion in the United States using government statistics and state statistics, including Iowa data compiled independently by the authors.
The rapid expansion of education in the United States compared to Europe was due to the existence of six virtues that supported the American education system.
The six virtues are 'publicly provided education (establishment of public schools),' 'numerous financially independent school districts (decentralization, competition between school districts),' 'free education,' 'non-sectarian public education,' 'public education regardless of gender (gender neutrality),' and 'open and tolerant system (popularization of education),' all of which contain egalitarian elements unique to the United States.
Unlike Europe, where only a select few could afford higher education, formal school-based education in the United States has enabled young people to change careers throughout their lives, equipping them with the necessary skills and enabling them to respond more quickly to technological change.
Part 3, "Gyeongju," points out that the gap between the supply of labor due to expanded education and the demand due to technological innovation is widening and narrowing due to a competition for speed between the two.
The wage gap between educational levels narrowed from 1915 to the 1970s, but widened after the 1980s.
Between 1915 and 2005, the demand for college-educated workers increased at a steady rate.
Between 1915 and 1980, the supply of college-educated workers rapidly increased, putting downward pressure on the university wage premium. However, after the 1980s, the increase in the supply of college-educated workers slowed significantly, leading to an increase in the college wage premium.
That is, we can see that supply has not been able to keep up with the expanding demand for college-educated workers since the 1980s.
Using extensive data spanning 100 years, the two authors conclude that the lack of a highly educated workforce due to the slowdown in educational expansion is the cause of the widening gap.
The collapse of the American Dream, the rapid advancement of AI technology…
Can education save humanity from the swamp of inequality?
As the title of this book suggests, if we compare educational development and technological progress to a race, educational development was ahead of technological progress until the early to mid-20th century, but during the last 30 years of the 20th century, educational progress lagged behind technological progress.
As the intergenerational trend of increasing educational attainment, where children far surpassed their parents', has stalled, the premise that "children will be better off than their parents," which was at the core of the "American Dream," has begun to waver.
In other words, in the first half of the 20th century, because educational progress was sufficient, the speed of supplying high-level talent was sufficient to keep pace with technological progress, but in the latter half, as the pace of educational development slowed, it could not keep up with technological progress, and the wage gap widened.
Why did education lag behind in the race?
The two authors point out that the "virtues" that once brought about the expansion of education at all levels have become stumbling blocks to modern American education.
First, the decentralized financial system actually resulted in exacerbating inequality.
There was a strong tendency for residential districts to be distinct from those in high-income and low-income households, and the idea of fiscal independence was inseparable from the fact that some school districts were richer and others poorer.
Disparities in the quality of education have emerged across regions, posing a significant challenge for children who commute to school in districts with poorly functioning public education, particularly in low-income areas.
Furthermore, while open and tolerant systems offer a second chance to disadvantaged and disengaged children, the lack of rigorous standards has led to a decline in the quality of education.
Also noteworthy are the two authors' policy recommendations for improving educational outcomes and increasing the supply of college-educated workers.
Goldin and Katz argue that we need to expand quality preschool education for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, improve the quality of K-12 education so that more students are academically prepared for college, and expand scholarships to help students who are academically prepared for college pursue higher education.
In a time when technological advancements that were meant to advance human prosperity are now threatening humanity, the days when having a high school diploma or college diploma was considered indispensable are long gone.
This is especially true when the skills I possess can be imitated or replaced by a computer program.
In that sense, "Education and Technology Race" can provide profound insights into how rapid technological advancements, particularly AI (artificial intelligence), will change the nature of labor and job demand, and what role education can play in addressing these changes.
In Korea, too, inequality and the widening gap between classes have long been serious social problems.
The perspective of "The Race Between Education and Technology," which explains the widening gap through technological innovation and changes in educational accessibility, is significant in explaining the patterns of economic inequality that have occurred not only in the United States but also around the world. Beyond the framework of a simple study of American history, it will also offer significant implications for the gap and educational issues in Korean society, which has looked to the United States as a growth model.
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: January 20, 2025
- Page count, weight, size: 664 pages | 992g | 152*223*42mm
- ISBN13: 9791193166857
- ISBN10: 1193166853
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