¿Es rentable para el sector público invertir en educación?

Abstract

The present paper analyzes one of the advantages that a country can derive from people with higher educational levels, i.e. higher tax revenues resulting from the higher earnings from higher school attainment.More specifically, we test whether the marginal revenue obtained by the public sector from taxpayers holding an additional educational level is higher than the marginal public expenditure on them. To accomplish this aim, we extend Psacharopoulos (1981) analysis and calculate internal rates of return for public expenditure in schooling. Our results suggest that taxpayers with an additional educational level, including those attaining post-compulsory educational levels, are profitable for the public sector.Education expenditure, tax burden, internal rate of return.