The present historical moment may seem a particularly inopportune time to review Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam's latest exploration of civic decline in America. After all, the outpouring of volunteerism, solidarity, patriotism, and self-sacrifice displayed by Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks appears to fly in the face of Putnam's central argument: that \"social capital\" -defined as \"social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them\" (p. 19)'has declined to dangerously low levels in America over the last three decades. However, Putnam is not fazed in the least by the recent effusion of solidarity. Quite the contrary, he sees in it the potential to \"reverse what has been a 30to 40-year steady decline in most measures of connectedness or community.\"' As an example of how the current \"war on terrorism\" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says \"permanently marked\" the generation that lived through it and had a \"terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century.\" 3 If Americans can follow this example and channel their current civic

Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community

Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age.

This review of human capital theory begins in 1776 and ends in the 1960s, when the theoretical and empirical foundations of the field were articulated and established. The review is organized to provide a general reference to human capital theory, its historical development, and its major methodological approaches. While human capital research has not been limited to education, it usually includes empirical measures of education and produces results that affect educators and education policy. Review of the foundation studies that were conceived by Nobel prize laureates and historically prominent economists supports the position that educators should draw their own informed conclusions and define the agenda of future human capital research.

Human Capital Theory: Foundations of a Field of Inquiry

List of figures List of tables Preface 1. The relevance of education 2. The demand for education 3. Liquidity constraints and access to education 4. The supply of education 5. Education financing 6. The return on education 7. Intergenerational persistence References Subject index Author index.

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The Economics of Education: Human Capital, Family Background and Inequality

Recent literature on the returns to schooling and vocational and occupational training in OECD countries is examined, with somewhat greater emphasis being accorded the US and UK experience. We provide estimates of short-cut, Mincer-type and internal rates of return to schooling, as well as alternative estimates of the returns to formal and informal post-school training investments.

The Economic Returns to Lifelong Learning in OECD Countries

Introduction - Human Capital - Rates of Return - Human Resource Needs - Private or Public Sector? - The Costs of Provision - Auctions, Vouchers and Loans - Universities as Multi-product Firms - Performance Indicators - The Graduate Labour Market - The Labour Market for Educators - Conclusion

The Economics of Education

The findings from the Participatory Citizenship in the European Union study suggest a number of key recommendations concerning policies, practices and effective approaches towards overcoming barriers to Participatory Citizenship in Europe. These key recommendations are summarised below and are explained in more detail in this report

Final study summary and policy recommendations: participatory citizenship in the European Union

The concept of citizenship as merely a legal concept has been considered too narrow for modern democratic society for a number of reasons: ? Having legal rights is insufficient to enable equal possibilities for all citizens to activate their rights. Participatory forms of Citizenship require the capability to exercise rights. ? Gaining and maintaining rights requires constant action and vigilance from citizens,and a legal definition does not encompass these processes. ? The legal definition emphasizes rights, and places less emphasis on obligations.Obligations of the state upon the citizen are not always legally framed, but occur as citizens’ perceptions of norms. These participatory norms, for example voting, are crucial for the health of democracy. ? The legal definition focuses on the relationship between the state and the individual,and ignores the relationship between citizens and the associations they form, as wellas the importance of associative life in the balance of democracy. In this regard,citizens need to participate in civic and political life in order to ensure the accountability of the state, and the legitimation of democracy

Contextual analysis report: participatory citizenship in the European Union Institute of Education

Education, Training and Economic Performance 1944 to 1990

This article analyses the changing nature of Active and Participatory Citizenship in Europe during the period of the financial crisis from 2008–2015 and introduces the special issue which has a focus on this topic. This article and the accompanying special issue shed light on the current critical situation in Europe, how we got here and provides critical insights on where we may be headed. The findings of the research show that during the period of the economic crisis the European Union (EU) was seen to take a leadership role championing austerity and neoliberal economic policies whilst many of its citizens suffered and began to lose trust in the EU, its institutions and leaders. National politicians often successfully shifted blame to the EU for domestic policies that made citizens and public services suffer in the name of austerity for recovery. At the same time, Active and Participatory Citizenship policies received major cuts to funding, as part of the austerity drive, and were no longer considered a policy priority at both the European and the national level as concerns about mounting unemployment and a skills crisis took over. In addition, there was a general policy shift from cosmopolitan European Citizenship to a more nationalistic and, reactive citizenship driven by responses to pressing social issues such as extremism, radicalisation, migration and violence. The article concludes that in order to maintain the European project the Active and Participatory agenda needs to urgently be restored to give people a sense of belonging and ownership of Europe.

David Kerr

Papers

The Economics of Education

Final study summary and policy recommendations: participatory citizenship in the European Union

Contextual analysis report: participatory citizenship in the European Union Institute of Education

Education, Training and Economic Performance 1944 to 1990

Citizenship and the economic crisis in Europe: An introduction