Clive Belfield and Henry M. Levin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199982981
- eISBN:
- 9780199346219
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199982981.003.0014
- Subject:
- Sociology, Education
Economists Clive Belfield and Hank Levin explore the overall costs of the cumulative opportunity gap. They examine the opportunity gap in terms of diminished lifetime opportunities for employment and ...
More
Economists Clive Belfield and Hank Levin explore the overall costs of the cumulative opportunity gap. They examine the opportunity gap in terms of diminished lifetime opportunities for employment and income, as well as the social costs of having an undereducated workforce when students do not complete high school or beyond. They estimate that the economic benefit of closing the opportunity gap by just one-third would result in $50 billion in fiscal savings and $200 billion in savings from a societal perspective—by, for example, lowering rates of crime and incarceration. By point of comparison, they note, total taxpayer spending on K-12 education, including national, state, and local expenditures, is approximately $570 billion. Closing the opportunity gap is not simply a matter of equity and of adhering to core American values, Belfield and Levin argue; it also implicates our economic health.Less
Economists Clive Belfield and Hank Levin explore the overall costs of the cumulative opportunity gap. They examine the opportunity gap in terms of diminished lifetime opportunities for employment and income, as well as the social costs of having an undereducated workforce when students do not complete high school or beyond. They estimate that the economic benefit of closing the opportunity gap by just one-third would result in $50 billion in fiscal savings and $200 billion in savings from a societal perspective—by, for example, lowering rates of crime and incarceration. By point of comparison, they note, total taxpayer spending on K-12 education, including national, state, and local expenditures, is approximately $570 billion. Closing the opportunity gap is not simply a matter of equity and of adhering to core American values, Belfield and Levin argue; it also implicates our economic health.