Publish at March 21 2016 Updated April 11 2024
It pays to study
Here's an interesting fact from the OECD, based on data from over 10 million workers: regardless of the country, the richest 1% have overwhelmingly (65%) completed higher education.
So it pays to study. But you have to choose the right field: finance, administration, technology. Of course, it's management positions that pay the highest dividends.
Studies in technical fields lead almost no one to great wealth, unless they take an administrative orientation.
If education pays, it's not as a teacher: education is the field where the probability of being part of the richest 1% of society is the lowest. Even leisure activities are more likely! It's a safe bet that the fact that the public system is very strong in this area sets the standard for salaries and eases competition.
It's hard to imagine executives earning more than 1,000 times what their employees earn (15 million / 15,000), but this is accepted in certain circles, such as finance and big business. I don't know anyone who does the work of 1,000 others. It's the organization of 1,000 people that enables some of them to take on certain roles, but what can justify such a discrepancy?
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The 1% lesson
The fact that education is at the bottom of the list of valued areas of activity may seem unfair, even though it is the main thing that the richest people have in common.
But on the other hand, it also points the way to a more egalitarian system. The education system doesn't make fortunes, but most people live much better here than in most other industries.
Excellent managers can be trained, but their value is not so much based on their diploma as on their ability to achieve results. A good executive is like a top athlete: he or she will win the business every time, in principle, so people are prepared to pay the price.
The 1% teaches you how to increase your value as a business: it guarantees the result, the value of your investment.
The more the education system guarantees its results, the better it is financed. Guaranteeing success is the best way to increase the system's value. If it aims for success, it's on the right track.
It's a wonder that the financial system can claim such a large share of society's income: we don't eat money, we don't wear money, but we can buy almost anything with money, even education.
You can't eat education, you can't wear education, but you can achieve almost anything with education. You have knowledge, and you can even exchange it for money. There's no reason not to value education over the financial system and elitist professions.
Rebalancing society? We can value education, including financially, without impoverishing others.
References
Who are the top 1% earners in Europe? - Oliver Denk - OECD Economics Department Working Papers No. 1274
http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/5jrp1g39gkzw.pdf?expires=1458588763&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=8342B07F12CC435B633316E3531B23B5
Europe's top 1%: Who they are and how you get in - Oliver Denk, Economist
https://medium.com/@OECD/europe-s-top-1-who-they-are-and-how-you-get-in-69a4b615d500
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