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THE RADICAL SCHOOL AND THE ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 August 2016

Franck Bailly*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Law, Economics and Management, University of Rouen, France, [email protected].

Abstract

The economics of education gradually became institutionalized in the period following the Second World War. Human capital theory was the central pillar in this process. Nevertheless, it did not go unchallenged. The first challenges came from within the mainstream itself, but economists affiliated to other paradigms also called human capital theory into question. This applied in particular to the work of the radical economists. The aim of this article is to document this critical episode in the history of ideas in the economics of education. To that end, the nature of the radical economists’ critique is examined and it is shown how it connects to human capital theory.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2016 

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