摘要：AbstractIn this paper the “willingness to pay” (wtp) approach and the utilitaristic one are compared in order to evaluate an educational project, such as an investment in human capital. In the first part, the differences between the two approaches are underlined. In the second part we show the important role that education can play on the probability of finding a job. In the third part a suitable model is introduced and the conditions under which the wtp approach systematically overestimates (or respectively underestimates) the social value of an educational program are shown. In all the considered cases, however, the wtp criterion seems not to be a suitable measure of educational social welfare.
关键词：Education;human capital;willingness to pay (wtp);social utility;evaluation
