IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/econoa/v18y2024i1p24n1027.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Government Expenditure, Education, and Productivity in the European Union: Effects on Economic Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Coronel Vicente J.

    (Department of Economics, Universidad de Castilla‐La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Spain)

  • Díaz-Roldán Carmen

    (Department of Economics, Universidad de Castilla‐La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Spain)

Abstract

In this article, we will analyse the effects of public spending on education on productivity, wages, and growth at European Union level. We are trying to find out to what extent education expenditures and human capital contribute to improving productivity, achieving higher wages, and enhancing the standard of living of the population, as measured by per capita growth. Our results do not show a clear and direct relationship between public expenditure on education and productivity, but an indirect relationship through the acquisition of a higher level of human capital and technological skills, which leads to output increases.

Suggested Citation

  • Coronel Vicente J. & Díaz-Roldán Carmen, 2024. "Government Expenditure, Education, and Productivity in the European Union: Effects on Economic Growth," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 18(1), pages 1-24.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:econoa:v:18:y:2024:i:1:p:24:n:1027
    DOI: 10.1515/econ-2022-0081
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/econ-2022-0081
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/econ-2022-0081?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    2. James J. Heckman & Stefano Mosso, 2014. "The Economics of Human Development and Social Mobility," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 689-733, August.
    3. Blankenau, William, 2005. "Public schooling, college subsidies and growth," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 487-507, March.
    4. Fleisher, Belton & Li, Haizheng & Zhao, Min Qiang, 2010. "Human capital, economic growth, and regional inequality in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 215-231, July.
    5. Mikael Lindahl & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Education for Growth: Why and for Whom?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1101-1136, December.
    6. Arnaud Chevalier & Colm Harmon & Ian Walker & Yu Zhu, 2004. "Does Education Raise Productivity, or Just Reflect it?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(499), pages 499-517, November.
    7. Gary S. Becker, 1962. "Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis," NBER Chapters, in: Investment in Human Beings, pages 9-49, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Peter C. B. Phillips & Bruce E. Hansen, 1990. "Statistical Inference in Instrumental Variables Regression with I(1) Processes," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 57(1), pages 99-125.
    9. Kevin M. Murphy & Robert H. Topel, 2016. "Human Capital Investment, Inequality and Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 21841, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Benos, Nikos & Karagiannis, Stelios, 2016. "Do education quality and spillovers matter? Evidence on human capital and productivity in Greece," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 563-573.
    11. Kwiatkowski, Denis & Phillips, Peter C. B. & Schmidt, Peter & Shin, Yongcheol, 1992. "Testing the null hypothesis of stationarity against the alternative of a unit root : How sure are we that economic time series have a unit root?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1-3), pages 159-178.
    12. William Blankenau & Gabriele Camera, 2009. "Public Spending on Education and the Incentives for Student Achievement," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 76(303), pages 505-527, July.
    13. Yoga Affandi & Donni Fajar Anugrah & Pakasa Bary, 2019. "Human capital and economic growth across regions: a case study in Indonesia," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(3), pages 331-347, September.
    14. George Psacharopoulos & Harry Anthony Patrinos, 2004. "Returns to investment in education: a further update," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 111-134.
    15. Mincer, Jacob, 1984. "Human capital and economic growth," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 195-205, June.
    16. Galor, Oded & Tsiddon, Daniel, 1997. "The Distribution of Human Capital and Economic Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 93-124, March.
    17. Gradstein, Mark, 2003. "The political economy of public spending on education, inequality, and growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3162, The World Bank.
    18. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    19. Jenkins, H., 1995. "Education and Production in the United Kingdom," Economics Papers 101, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    20. Stephan Kampelmann & François Rycx & Yves Saks & Ilan Tojerow, 2018. "Does education raise productivity and wages equally? The moderating role of age and gender," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-37, December.
    21. Kaja Bonesmo Fredriksen, 2012. "Income Inequality in the European Union," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 952, OECD Publishing.
    22. Benhabib, Jess & Spiegel, Mark M., 1994. "The role of human capital in economic development evidence from aggregate cross-country data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 143-173, October.
    23. Michael R.M. Abrigo & Sang-Hyop Lee & Donghyun Park, 2018. "Human Capital Spending, Inequality, and Growth in Middle-Income Asia," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(6), pages 1285-1303, May.
    24. Teixeira, Aurora A.C. & Queirós, Anabela S.S., 2016. "Economic growth, human capital and structural change: A dynamic panel data analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 1636-1648.
    25. Stock, James H & Watson, Mark W, 1993. "A Simple Estimator of Cointegrating Vectors in Higher Order Integrated Systems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(4), pages 783-820, July.
    26. Audra J. Bowlus & Chris Robinson, 2012. "Human Capital Prices, Productivity, and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3483-3515, December.
    27. Nancy L. Stokey, 1991. "Human Capital, Product Quality, and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 587-616.
    28. Kao, Chihwa, 1999. "Spurious regression and residual-based tests for cointegration in panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 1-44, May.
    29. Enrico Moretti, 2004. "Workers' Education, Spillovers, and Productivity: Evidence from Plant-Level Production Functions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 656-690, June.
    30. Annabi, Nabil & Harvey, Simon & Lan, Yu, 2011. "Public expenditures on education, human capital and growth in Canada: An OLG model analysis," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 852-865.
    31. Angel de la Fuente, 2011. "Human capital and productivity," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 860.11, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    32. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    33. Raul Ramos & Jordi Surinach & Manuel Art�s, 2012. "Regional Economic Growth and Human Capital: The Role of Over-education," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(10), pages 1389-1400, November.
    34. Rajkumar, Andrew Sunil & Swaroop, Vinaya, 2008. "Public spending and outcomes: Does governance matter?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 96-111, April.
    35. Romer,Paul M, 1989. "What determines the rate of growth and technological change?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 279, The World Bank.
    36. Dissou, Yazid & Didic, Selma & Yakautsava, Tatsiana, 2016. "Government spending on education, human capital accumulation, and growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 9-21.
    37. Peter Pedroni, 1999. "Critical Values for Cointegration Tests in Heterogeneous Panels with Multiple Regressors," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(S1), pages 653-670, November.
    38. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    39. Hanushek, Eric A., 2013. "Economic growth in developing countries: The role of human capital," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 204-212.
    40. Francesco Cinnirella & Jochen Streb, 2017. "The role of human capital and innovation in economic development: evidence from post-Malthusian Prussia," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 193-227, June.
    41. Chun-Li Tsai & Ming-Cheng Hung & Kevin Harriott, 2010. "Human Capital Composition and Economic Growth," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 41-59, October.
    42. Lori L. Taylor, 1994. "An economy at risk? The social costs of school inefficiency," Economic and Financial Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, issue Q III, pages 1-13.
    43. Peter C. B. Phillips & Hyungsik R. Moon, 1999. "Linear Regression Limit Theory for Nonstationary Panel Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 67(5), pages 1057-1112, September.
    44. Fershtman, Chaim & Murphy, Kevin M & Weiss, Yoram, 1996. "Social Status, Education, and Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(1), pages 108-132, February.
    45. Burton A. Weisbrod, 1962. "Education and Investment in Human Capital," NBER Chapters, in: Investment in Human Beings, pages 106-123, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    46. Gary S. Becker, 1964. "Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, First Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck-5.
    47. Supachet Chansarn, 2010. "Labor Productivity Growth, Education, Health and Technological Progress: A Cross-Country Analysis," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 249-261, September.
    48. Burton A. Weisbrod, 1962. "Education and Investment in Human Capital," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(5), pages 106-106.
    49. Sylwester, Kevin, 2000. "Income inequality, education expenditures, and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 379-398, December.
    50. Jong-Wha Lee & Hanol Lee, 2018. "Human capital and income inequality," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 554-583, October.
    51. Joshua D. Angrist & Alan B. Keueger, 1991. "Does Compulsory School Attendance Affect Schooling and Earnings?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 979-1014.
    52. Glomm, Gerhard & Ravikumar, B, 1992. "Public versus Private Investment in Human Capital Endogenous Growth and Income Inequality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(4), pages 818-834, August.
    53. Card, David, 2001. "Estimating the Return to Schooling: Progress on Some Persistent Econometric Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(5), pages 1127-1160, September.
    54. Dias, Joilson & Tebaldi, Edinaldo, 2012. "Institutions, human capital, and growth: The institutional mechanism," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 300-312.
    55. Peter Pedroni, 2001. "Purchasing Power Parity Tests In Cointegrated Panels," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(4), pages 727-731, November.
    56. Christopher A. Pissarides, 2000. "Human Capital and Growth: A Synthesis Report," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 168, OECD Publishing.
    57. Robert J. Barro, 2001. "Human Capital and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 12-17, May.
    58. Muhammad Chani & Sajjad Jan & Zahid Pervaiz & Amatul Chaudhary, 2014. "Human capital inequality and income inequality: testing for causality," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 149-156, January.
    59. repec:bla:obuest:v:61:y:1999:i:0:p:653-70 is not listed on IDEAS
    60. Kevin M. Murphy & Robert H. Topel, 2016. "Human Capital Investment, Inequality, and Economic Growth," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(S2), pages 99-127.
    61. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    62. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Palakiyèm Kpemoua, 2016. "Levels Of Education And Economic Performances Of Togo [Niveaux D’Education Et Performances Economiques Du Togo]," Working Papers halshs-01506650, HAL.
    2. Mine Yilmazer & Serkan inar, 2015. "Human Capabilities and Economic Growth: A Comparative Human Capability Index," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 5(4), pages 843-853.
    3. Roseline Tapuwa Karambakuwa & Ronney Ncwadi & Andrew Phiri, 2020. "The human capital–economic growth nexus in SSA countries: what can strengthen the relationship?," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 47(9), pages 1143-1159, July.
    4. Lenkei, Balint & Mustafa, Ghulam & Vecchi, Michela, 2018. "Growth in emerging economies: Is there a role for education?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 240-253.
    5. Daren, Conrad, 2007. "Education and Economic Growth: Is There a Link?," MPRA Paper 18176, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2009.
    6. Conrad, Daren, 2017. "Education's Contribution to Economic Growth," MPRA Paper 77365, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Markus Eberhardt & Francis Teal, 2008. "Modeling Technology and Technological Change in Manufacturing: How do Countries Differ?," CSAE Working Paper Series 2008-12, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    8. Zahra Sheidaei & Mohammadnabi Shahiki Tash, 2014. "The Cumulative Effect of Human Capital on Economic Growth: Using Panel Data Method," Romanian Economic Journal, Department of International Business and Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, vol. 17(52), pages 95-115, June.
    9. Tiba, Sofien & Frikha, Mohamed, 2019. "The controversy of the resource curse and the environment in the SDGs background: The African context," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 437-452.
    10. Zhang, Xiaobei & Wang, Xiaojun, 2021. "Measures of human capital and the mechanics of economic growth," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    11. Antonio Paradiso & Saten Kumar & B. Bhaskara Rao, 2013. "The growth effects of education in Australia," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(27), pages 3843-3852, September.
    12. Ralph Hippe & Roger Fouquet, 2024. "The Human Capital Transition and the Role of Policy," Springer Books, in: Claude Diebolt & Michael Haupert (ed.), Handbook of Cliometrics, edition 3, pages 411-457, Springer.
    13. Tran, Nguyen Van & Alauddin, Mohammad & Tran, Quyet Van, 2019. "Labour quality and benefits reaped from global economic integration: An application of dynamic panel SGMM estimators," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 92-106.
    14. Juan Carlos Aquino & N. R. Ramírez-Rondán, 2020. "Estimating factor shares from nonstationary panel data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(5), pages 2353-2380, May.
    15. Serge Coulombe & Jean-Francois Tremblay, 2009. "Education, Productivity and Economic Growth: A Selective Review of the Evidence," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 18, pages 3-24, Spring.
    16. Churchill, Sefa Awawoyi & Yew, Siew Ling & Ugur, Mehmet, 2015. "Effects of government education and health expenditures on economic growth: a meta-analysis," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 14072, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    17. Muhammad Ali & Uwe Cantner & Ipsita Roy, 2017. "Knowledge Spillovers Through FDI and Trade: The Moderating Role of Quality-Adjusted Human Capital," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Uwe Cantner (ed.), Foundations of Economic Change, pages 357-391, Springer.
    18. Karatheodoros Anastasios & Tsamadias Constantinos & Pegkas Panagiotis, 2019. "The effects of formal educations’ levels on regional economic growth in Greece over the period 1995–2012," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 39(1), pages 91-111, February.
    19. Hiroaki Hayakawa & Yannis P. Venieris, 2019. "Duality in human capital accumulation and inequality in income distribution," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(3), pages 285-310, September.
    20. Salwa TRABELSI, 2017. "Public education expenditure and economic growth: the educational quality threshold effect," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 45, pages 99-112.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    government expenditure; education; human capital; productivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:econoa:v:18:y:2024:i:1:p:24:n:1027. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.