Education Costs Lock In Geography

A spatial model with migration, trade, agglomeration, and human‑capital diffusion finds development patterns persist for centuries when education is costly in the wrong places. Cutting schooling costs in sub‑Saharan Africa or Central/South Asia raises local outcomes but can lower global welfare, while the same move in Latin America improves it. Equalizing education costs within Africa can even backfire by shifting people toward less productive areas. — This challenges blanket 'education everywhere' prescriptions, arguing development gains depend on where human‑capital subsidies land relative to local productivity and agglomeration.