Learning has been commodified in many parts of the world, and the growing learning market challenges public education in many ways. Professor SoongHee Han explains how the global economy is pushing lifelong learning towards the market in Korea.

Recent research by the OECD has shown that education has beneficial effects on health and civic engagement, but researchers warn politicians against jumping to the conclusion that more schooling is necessarily better. But why should politicians even care about these social outcomes of learning when the economy is bust and unemployment is skyrocketing?