Paying for Educationis an outstanding contribution to explaining and deciphering the complex economic issues confronting students, their families, and societies. As an investment, education has high value, but it is also costly to finance. This book addresses both the economic value of education and alternative ways of paying for it, with attention to the consequences. Peter Davies has done a splendid job of addressing this complex subject. His coverage is comprehensive and recognizes issues for both student consideration and for policy decisions by governments. The writing is highly analytic, but clear and accessible to the reader in explaining and assessing the complexity of funding decisions and their implications. The book is fully accessible to the curious reader, but also informative and technically rigorous for the analyst. Its references to current and useful bibliographic sources is, in itself, a valuable repository for the reader.

It should serve both as an excellent text for courses on financing education as well as an accessible resource for those who seek an understanding of the arcane world of perpetual search for new solutions to a perpetual and complex challenge. Henry M. Levin, William Heart Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education, Columbia University and David Jacks Professor of Higher Education and Economics, Emeritus, Stanford University, USA Paying for Education by Peter Davies is one of those ''must-have'' books for students of education. It presents the economic and sociological principles necessary to gain a deeper understanding of the political issues around how and why education should be funded, and by whom. At its core are discussions about the value of education for individuals and for society, and how all this should be systematised to provide effectiveness in outcomes and efficiency in delivery. It is a timely contribution. For too long policy-makers have shied away from real debate in this area, as they have in the field of healthcare, adopting the stance that a middle course must always be the superior option. As a result we have had much fatuous change without having any real reform; at least not the kind of reform that makes a significant difference to children whose fate it is to occupy the penurious margins of schooling and higher education.

This book itself will not disturb the even tenor of the chattering classes who give thanks for their free education by denying it to the next generation, but it will inform those who have broad sympathies in times of inadequate public expenditure and are willing to engage in debate. Without such a debate we will continue to lose our way in the managerialist state where polite totalitarianism and a putitan obsession with international comparisons dulls our sense of the value of the individual and denies the potential of youth. This intellectual malaise needs to be confronted urgently and books like this have a serious contribution to make. Paying for Education is a clear read: concise without being perfunctory; thoughtful without being ponderous. It is an honest book, reflecting the integrity and commitment that Professor Davies has brought to the field over several decades. An ideal ''futures-thinking'' text for graduate and undergraduate students alike; and perhaps even for politicians! Anthony Kelly, Professor of Education, University of Southampton, UK. This book provides a multi-disciplinary perspective on some of the raging debates in education, although in my view the real strength of the book is in its clear and accessible explanations of core concepts in the economics of education. Davies presents evidence on key topics such as, who should pay for higher education, the role of education in perpetuating inequalities and the challenges of applying market concepts to education systems.

Concise and genuinely accessible to a range of social scientists, Davies provides a primer that will be an incredibly useful resource for years to come. Anna Vignoles, Professor of Education, University of Cambridge, UK.