The purpose of this paper is to The goal of this study is to empirically examine how innovation and income are affected by PISA scores-average scores in math, science, and reading. The specific objectives are threefold. First, we develop a conceptual model that describes the connection between income, innovation, and educational quality as determined by PISA scores. Second, we perform an empirical analysis to see if educational quality as assessed by the PISA scores has an impact on innovation.Third, we also test whether the PISA scores have a positive effect on income (GDP per capita). Using panel mode, we find that education quality has a significant and positive effect on innovation and income. Particularly high math test scores have been found to be an important subject that increases per capita income and innovation., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)