Everywhere, education is well rewarded, roughly 5% to 15% for each additional year of university, hence a major source of income inequality. Why do ordinary people see income rewards to education as legitimate? Two key theories: (1) their moral views might align with classical equity arguments asserting a moral entitlement to rewards in proportion to contributions. (2) Alternatively, they might see rewards to education as fair returns on investment, a morally infused folk version of human capital. These share almost all their predictions, but they differ if an employer fully finances the education. Analysis of a large representative Australian sample reveals that the public’s ideal returns to education match equity justifications (~80%), not economists’ fair return on investments (~10%).

中文翻译：

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教育奖励的合法化

在任何地方，教育都会得到很好的回报，大学每多读一年大约有 5% 到 15%，因此是收入不平等的一个主要来源。为什么普通人认为对教育的收入奖励是合法的？两个关键理论：(1) 他们的道德观点可能与古典公平论点一致，主张道德权利与贡献成正比。(2) 或者，他们可能将教育奖励视为公平的投资回报，这是一种充满道德色彩的人力资本。这些几乎与他们的所有预测相同，但如果雇主完全资助教育，他们就会有所不同。对澳大利亚大量代表性样本的分析表明，公众理想的教育回报符合公平理由（~80%），而不是经济学家的公平投资回报（~10%）。