It is safe to say that the current living standard is the highest since the beginning of human history. We have achieved unprecedented levels of life expectancy, income per capita, and educational attainment over the past few decades. This unprecedented prosperity and achievement would probably not have been attained without the continuous technological progress of the peaceful era after World War II. Most people would acknowledge the role of education in the advancement of our socioeconomic development. The value of education is widely studied. For example, it has been found that better-educated farmers are more responsive to new technical possibilities and that better-educated women are more effective at allocating resources within the family, including those that enhance child survival (Cleland and Van Ginneken 1988; Lockheed et al. 1980; Mensch et al. 1985; Schultz 1979). This article examines the empirical relationship between education and development during recent decades. Included...