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Across the industrialised and developing world, economic growth is increasingly linked to skill formation to raise labour productivity and average living standards. The twin forces of global integration and technical change have increased the focus on and importance of education and training in the competitive process. The role of the education and training system in this process is becoming increasingly important. The first set of Chapters, two to four, constitute in effect a sustained theoretical and empirical investigation of this simplistic consensus. The authors argue that the consensus if deficient in four general ways. First, it is incorrect to assume a linear and automatic connection between skill formation and economic performance. Chapter two examines a range of theoretical perspectives on this connection. The most important finding is that the link between skills and performance has to be seen in its social context. Chapter three contributes a wide-ranging review of the evidence and concludes that despite the accumulation of a considerable number of studies, there remain significant areas requiring further investigation and research. Chapter four charts some of the major macroeconomic developments across the world, and considers econometric and other evidence for convergence of national economic systems. In chapter five, the authors propose a theory of skill formation systems, building on a number of theories discussed in earlier chapters. As examples of the origins of low skill routes to accumulation, chapter six looks at the origins of skill formation institutions in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA), as these two countries are most commonly considered as falling into this category. Chapter seven tackles the high-skill routes, focusing on Germany, Japan and Singapore and their institutional development. The final chapter centres on how governments can deal with the high-skill route to accumulation. This book contains the following chapters: Introduction and overview: capitalism and skill formation; Education, training and industrialised economies; Education, training and economic performance: the empirical evidence; Global economic transformation and skill trends; A theory of skill formation systems; The low-skills route; The high-skills routes; Conclusions: a framework for policy analysis.