Investment in education is good economics

Dennis Van Roekel,President, National Education Association: -Washington Post, January 4, 2009 page B3: -

"These are frightening economic times. Stocks are down, unemployment rates are up, and home foreclosures are rising. Americans are rightly asking what the new President and Congress will do to help millions of jobless workers and stabilize the economy.

A recovery plan has been proposed to pump massive investments into the nation's infrastructure, especially our public schools, to restore our economic health."

I have sent my previous blogs to the same goal in the name of positive externality in graphic explanation. However,the empirical evidence remains to be seen in the days to come.

Clearly, Congress must take immediate action to stimulate our economy. In fact, education is the best investment we can make for long-term economic growth. A 2006 World Bank study found a dollar invested in education returns 14.3% annually in the form of increased tax-revenue and reduced government spending on social services. The following works are dedicated to the same purpose :

1. Keys for economic understanding. 1971.

2. "The Future of Community Colleges" published by the Congressional Record,July 18, 1974.

3. Keys to economic understanding. 1976.

4. Work and Study Cycle Theory. 1978.

Items 1,3 and 4 are listed at www.Amazon.com online book catalog for referenc.

USA and China share the same goal to train and to educate human resources in the 21st century in global economy.

Francis Shieh,Fulbright Senior Scholar, 1989-1990.

Monday, January 5, 2009 at 3.12 p.m.