There are many ways to date the development of the economics of education. In the 17th Century, Sir William Petty began writing about the valuation of lives in terms of the productive skills of individuals – a precursor of human capital considerations. Adam Smith followed a century later with direct consideration of the organization and finance of education. Yet, the more natural dating is much more recent with the development and legitimization of the study of human capital lead by Gary Becker, Jacob Mincer, and T.W. Schultz. These initial forays have, however, been followed by a torrent of recent work. Chapter 1 Post Schooling Wage Growth: Investment, Search and Learning Yona Rubinstein and Yoram Weiss Chapter 2 Long-Term Trends in Schooling: The Rise and Decline (?) of Public Education in the United States Sandra E. Black and Kenneth L. Sokoloff Chapter 3 Historical Perspectives on Racial Differences in Schooling in the United States William J. Collins and Robert A. Margo Chapter 4 Immigrants and Their Schooling James P. Smith Chapter 5 Educational Wage Premia and the Distribution of Earnings: An International Perspective Franco Peracchi Chapter 6 Educational Wage Premiums and the U.S. Income Distribution: A Survey Donald R. Deere and Jelena Vesovic Chapter 7 Earnings Functions, Rates of Return and Treatment Effects: The Mincer Equation and Beyond James J. Heckman, Lance J. Lochner and Petra E. Todd vii viii Contents of the Handbook Chapter 8 The Social Value of Education and Human Capital Fabian Lange and Robert Topel Chapter 9 Why Has Black–White Skill Convergence Stopped? Derek Neal Chapter 10 Education and Nonmarket Outcomes Michael Grossman Chapter 11 Does Learning to Add up Add up? The Returns to Schooling in Aggregate Data Lant Pritchett Chapter 12 Interpreting the Evidence on Life Cycle Skill Formation Flavio Cunha, James J. Heckman, Lance Lochner and Dimitriy V. Masterov