UCLA

This report presents a non-technical overview of how economists think about literacy, reviews evidence about educational attainment, the quality of the workforce and the economic value of literacy in Portugal, and explores policy options for ensuring that the supply of literacy skill meets expected levels of skill demand. Economic theory backed up by a solid body of empirical evidence, reviewed in this report, suggests that human capital – the knowledge, skills and other attributes of people that can be put to productive use – is an important driver of economic growth and balanced social development, and that literacy is a key determinant of both human capital and social capital.