  This chapter provides new evidence on educational inequality and reviews the
literature on the causes and consequences of unequal education. We document
large achievement gaps between children from different socio-economic
backgrounds, show how patterns of educational inequality vary across countries,
time, and generations, and establish a link between educational inequality and
social mobility. We interpret this evidence from the perspective of economic
models of skill acquisition and investment in human capital. The models account
for different channels underlying unequal education and highlight how
endogenous responses in parents' and children's educational investments
generate a close link between economic inequality and educational inequality.
Given concerns over the extended school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic,
we also summarize early evidence on the impact of the pandemic on children's
education and on possible long-run repercussions for educational inequality.
