The uneven expansion of education in developing regions: a historical perspective

Abstract

This article introduces the special <em>issue on "The Uneven Expansion of Education in Developing Regions".</em> To this end, we briefly examine the state of the economic history literature on human capital, identifying its main themes and assessing how it has contributed to addressing key uncertainties in our understanding of the role of education within societies in the long run. Additionally, we highlight the main limitations that arise from the predominant focus on developed country contexts, both from a historiographical and a conceptual perspective. Building on this premise, the second part of the article demonstrates how studying these issues in the context of developing countries can help overcome these limitations and, consequently, enhance our understanding of the role of education in long-term economic development trajectories. Finally, we argue that the three articles included in this special issue make valuable contributions toward this objective.