What is the linkage between international test scores and economic growth? From the Washington Post:
In plain English for jittery American policymakers: International evidence shows that successfully raising test scores will produce significantly higher future GDP growth. But those who are “out learned” will be overtaken. How much growth? These projections suggest quite a bit. In the case of a country currently performing at the OECD mean that successfully raised its test scores to the level of top PISA performers through 20 years of aggressive reforms, its GDP would be 5 percent greater.
But here is a related issue: The US never seems to score particularly highly on these tests. Yet we are a rich country always pushing the technological frontier. What gives? Why don’t we pay a price for what seems like a mediocre educational system?
