Adult Education for a Better Society?

A consistent pattern across countries is that adult education (AE) primarily concerns high skilled. It partly reflects the preferences of the employers but also the unwillingness of low skilled individuals to participate due to financial constraints and/or a perception of low returns to AE. These three observations serve as a point of departure to suggest that AE to a greater extent should be publicly provided, coupled with financial support for participants and, to improve its reputation, integrated into well known certified programs similar to schooling for youths. However, a policy of this kind is both unusual and expensive and, until recently, hardly any economics research on such extensive AE existed. This book presents recent evaluations from Sweden where there have been large public investments in AE. The results imply that there are considerable benefits for societies to make if public provision of AE at present is small. In addition, the results suggest a direction for the development of future educational systems. Readers with even only a slight interest in social policy are offered food for thought.