Abstract

In this chapter, we review the dominant approach to education and economic development as represented by human capital theory. We find it to be wholly inadequate in guiding policy with respect to the relationship of education to economic development. We then turn to a recent, more sophisticated account of the relationship between education and economic development, ‘capabilities, productive transformation and development’ (Nübler 2014, 2015). While this account is a significant advance over human capital theory, it does not take into account the role of transnational companies and global value chains (GVCs).What is missing from these accounts is an understanding of global capitalism and its implications for theorising the relationship between education and economic development.