Notingthut in munypartsof the worldthere has been widespread disillusionment with the economics of education, this paper argues that in Asia and the Pacifi there still remains a strong sense of optimism about the power of education to promote economic powth. The paper reviews the evidence on rates of return to education) and surveys the literature on education and equity. It also considers issues of educational management) education and unemployment, and the long‐running issue of the economic value of different curricula. The overall lheme of the paper i v the sense of confidence in education that is characteristic of most countries in the Asia‐PacifK reg