THE NEW ECONOMICS OF TEACHERS AND EDUCATION

Rapidly growing costs of elementary and secondary education are studie d in the context of the rising value of women's time. The dramatic inc rease in direct costs of education per student in the past 3 decades i s empirically linked to increasing demand and utilization of teacher a nd staff inputs, attributable to growing market opportunities for wome n and changes in the structure of families. On the supply side, the '' flexibility option'' that female teachers who take temporary leaves do not suffer subsequent wage loss upon reentry, is shown to be an impor tant attraction of the teaching profession to women.