Economists are so eager to argue education is underrated they neglect a strong reason to think education is overrated: reverse causation. Instead of “When countries invest more in schooling, they get richer,” the real story could be, “When countries get richer, they consume more schooling.” Almost everyone buys reverse causation at the personal level. Why do the rich spend more money on fancy prep schools and bloated college tuition? Because the rich have more money to spend.
