Are educational reforms necessarily growth-enhancing? Weak institutions as the cause of policy failure

Abstract

​In this short paper, we emphasize the importance of reforms sequencing and discuss it in the context of potential educational and institutional reforms in Russia. As weak institutions correspond to a more binding constraint on economic growth than a stagnant education system, we argue that an educational policy is likely to be effective only if it takes place after broader institutional reform is implemented. Otherwise, even a properly implemented education reform might fail to boost economic growth.