Education and training are key to explain the current competitive strengths of national economies, and to secure future competitiveness. While in the past educational and training institutions were often seen as providers of necessary skills for national economies, this view has changed dramatically, with education and training now being seen as a key ingredient for international competitiveness. This collection of papers on various aspects of the economics of education and training reflects this new interest. Reflecting state-of the art research in a cross country comparison, the topics covered are financing of education, transition from school to work, organisation of education, school quality and issues that relate to it, like quality of peers and teacher quality. Some papers also address issues that relate to more vocational training activities, and how these are influenced by purpose-made programmes, or other institutions.
