There is a connection between knowledge and prosperity. This may seem like an obvious statement, but the link between countries’ education systems and their economic well-being is rarely discussed in the policy debate. To remedy this situation, the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise has commissioned Gabriel Heller-Sahlgren of the London School of Economics and the Research Institute of Industrial Economics, and Henrik Jordahl of Örebro University and the Research Institute of Industrial Economics, to review and update the literature analyzing the relationship between education quality and economic growth.
The authors also review research analysing how different factors, including school competition, central exit exams, instructional time, and pedagogical methods, affect student achievement in international tests. Furthermore, they simulate different scenarios in order to show how Sweden’s growth rate could be affected by hypothetical education reforms.
Education systems´ link to prosperity is a key dimension that should not be ignored. Indeed, Heller-Sahlgren and Jordahl’s results clearly display the important role sensible education reforms may play for society at large. The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise hopes that their conclusions will contribute to a constructive debate about which education policies and interventions should be prioritised in the coming years.
This report was originally published in Swedish as “En kunskapsskola för tillväxt” on 10th May 2019.