Globalization and the Political Economy of Educational Inequality

I claim that globalization increases demands for education the most in less productive economies by fueling competition that both expands skill-intensive employment opportunities at an accelerated rate and funnels in relatively skilled jobs from overseas through offshoring. These dynamics most incentivize low-income citizens to vote and lobby for education because the poor—who face limited resources and exigent present needs—only prioritize schooling over short-term government provisions when they perceive education as a gateway for improving children's long-run earnings. I test my theory with multiple analyses: 1) a large-N, cross-country procedure that shows that globalization reduces educational inequality the most in less productive economies; 2) a micro-level study of approximately 100,000 parents demonstrating that demands for education among the poor are greatest in open, less productive economies; 3) an investigation of diachronic shocks to globalization exposure in Costa Rica and Zambia that heightened demand for education among low-income residents; and 4) in-depth, qualitative case studies that link exposure to globalization to pro-poor schooling in Ireland and Vietnam.