IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eso/journl/v40y2009i1p73-107.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Determinants of Higher Education Participation in Ireland: A Micro Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Flannery, Darragh

    (Rural Economic Research Centre (RERC), Teagasc)

  • O'Donoghue, Cathal

    (National Universtity of Ireland, Galway)

Abstract

In this paper we present a theoretical model of higher education participation in Ireland. Utilising the Living in Ireland Survey data we model the impact of costs (direct and indirect), the estimated life cycle returns, environmental and parental influences and also household credit constraints on the higher education participation decision. We find that foregone earnings and youth employment rates have a negative impact on this decision; this suggests weaker labour markets for young people may have a positive impact on higher education participation. The insignificance of credit constraints in the shape of household income and maintenance grant eligibility from our estimations can also help draw some tentative policy conclusions. Our results also show that life cycle returns and parental educational level may influence participation in higher education in Ireland.

Suggested Citation

  • Flannery, Darragh & O'Donoghue, Cathal, 2009. "The Determinants of Higher Education Participation in Ireland: A Micro Analysis," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 40(1), pages 73-107.
    • Handle: RePEc:eso:journl:v:40:y:2009:i:1:p:73-107
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.esr.ie/Vol40_1/ESRI%2040-1-4.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2009
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lisa Sanbonmatsu & Jeffrey R. Kling & Greg J. Duncan & Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, 2006. "Neighborhoods and Academic Achievement: Results from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(4).
    2. Winship C. Fuller & Charles F. Manski & David A. Wise, 1982. "New Evidence on the Economic Determinants of Postsecondary Schooling Choices," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 17(4), pages 477-498.
    3. Gianna Claudia Giannelli & Chiara Monfardini, 2003. "Joint decisions on household membership and human capital accumulation of youths. The role of expected earnings and local markets," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 16(2), pages 265-285, May.
    4. Colm Harmon & Hessel Oosterbeek & Ian Walker, 2000. "The returns to education : a review of evidence, issues and deficiencies in the literature," Open Access publications 10197/670, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    5. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2005. "Why the Apple Doesn't Fall Far: Understanding Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 437-449, March.
    6. Robert Haveman & Barbara Wolfe, 1995. "The Determinants of Children's Attainments: A Review of Methods and Findings," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 1829-1878, December.
    7. Mattila, J Peter, 1982. "Determinants of Male School Enrollments: A Time-Series Analysis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(2), pages 242-251, May.
    8. Overman, Henry G. & Heath, Alex, 2000. "The influence of neighbourhood effects on education decisions in a nationally funded education system : the case of Australia," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 678, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Gustman, Alan L & Steinmeier, Thomas L, 1981. "The Impact of Wages and Unemployment on Youth Enrollment and Labor Supply," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 63(4), pages 553-560, November.
    10. Stephen V. Cameron & James J. Heckman, 1999. "The Dynamics of Educational Attainment for Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites," NBER Working Papers 7249, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Cecilia Albert Verdú, 1998. "- Higher Education Demand In Spain: The Influence Of Labour Market Signals And Family Background," Working Papers. Serie EC 1998-17, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    12. Acemoglu, Daron & Pischke, J. -S., 2001. "Changes in the wage structure, family income, and children's education," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 890-904, May.
    13. Hessel Oosterbeek & Hans van Ophem, 2000. "Schooling choices: Preferences, discount rates, and rates of return," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 15-34.
    14. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    15. Christopher T. Whelan & Damian F. Hannan, 1999. "Class Inequalities in Educational Attainment among the Adult Population in the Republic of Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 285-307.
    16. Brännström, Lars, 2007. "Making their mark. Disentangling the Effects of Neighbourhood and School Environments on Educational Achievement," Arbetsrapport 2007:3, Institute for Futures Studies.
    17. David Card & Thomas Lemieux, 2001. "Dropout and Enrollment Trends in the Postwar Period: What Went Wrong in the 1970s?," NBER Chapters, in: Risky Behavior among Youths: An Economic Analysis, pages 439-482, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Mattila, J. Peter, 1982. "Determinants of Male School Enrollments, A Time-Series Analysis," Staff General Research Papers Archive 10849, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    19. Marc Frenette, 2006. "Too Far to Go On? Distance to School and University Participation," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 31-58.
    20. Yoram Ben-Porath, 1967. "The Production of Human Capital and the Life Cycle of Earnings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(4), pages 352-352.
    21. Nicoletti, Cheti & Peracchi, Franco, 2002. "A cross-country comparison of survey nonparticipation in the ECHP -ISER working paper-," ISER Working Paper Series 2002-32, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    22. Dorothy Watson, 2004. "Living in Ireland Survey - Technical Report and Codebook for Data Users," Papers WP163, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    23. Card, David, 2001. "Estimating the Return to Schooling: Progress on Some Persistent Econometric Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(5), pages 1127-1160, September.
    24. Emer Smyth, 1999. "Educational Inequalities Among School Leavers in Ireland 1979-1994," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 267-284.
    25. Hilmer, Michael J., 1998. "Post-secondary fees and the decision to attend a university or a community college," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 329-348, March.
    26. Light, Audrey, 1995. "Hazard model estimates of the decision to reenroll in school," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 381-406, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. D. Flannery & J. Cullinan, 2014. "Where they go, what they do and why it matters: the importance of geographic accessibility and social class for decisions relating to higher education institution type, degree level and field of study," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(24), pages 2952-2965, August.
    2. John Cullinan & Kevin Denny & Darragh Flannery, 2021. "A distributional analysis of upper secondary school performance," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 1085-1113, February.
    3. Darragh Flannery & Cathal O’Donoghue, 2011. "The Life-cycle Impact of Alternative Higher Education Finance Systems in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 42(3), pages 237-270.
    4. Mary Carey & Cathal O'Donoghue, 2013. "The Geographical Spread and the Economic Impact of Food Harvest 2020 – A Regional Perspective," Working Papers 1301, Rural Economy and Development Programme,Teagasc.
    5. Flannery, Darragh & O’Donoghue, Cathal, 2013. "The demand for higher education: A static structural approach accounting for individual heterogeneity and nesting patterns," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 243-257.
    6. John Cullinan & Darragh Flannery & Sharon Walsh & Selina Mccoy, 2013. "Distance Effects, Social Class and the Decision to Participate in Higher Education in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 44(1), pages 19-51.
    7. Alam, Khorshed & Mamun, Shamsul Arifeen Khan, 2016. "The relationship between labour force status and educational attainment: Evidence from a system of simultaneous equations model," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 55-65.
    8. Smyth, Emer & Devlin, Anne & Bergin, Adele & McGuinness, Seamus, 2022. "A North-South comparison of education and training systems: Lessons for policy," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS138.
    9. Wales, Philip, 2013. "Access all areas? The impact of fees and background on student demand for postgraduate higher education in the UK," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 57846, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Sievertsen, Hans Henrik, 2016. "Local unemployment and the timing of post-secondary schooling," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 17-28.
    11. Flannery, Darragh & O'Donoghue, Cathal, 2009. "Participation in Higher Education: A Random Parameter Logit Approach with Policy Simulations," IZA Discussion Papers 4163, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Philip Wales, 2013. "Access All Areas? The Impact of Fees and Background on Student Demand for Postgraduate Higher Education in the UK," SERC Discussion Papers 0128, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    13. Katarina Weßling & Nora Bechler, 2019. "Where do regional influences matter? The impact of socio-spatial indicators on transitions from secondary school to university [Wo hat Region einen Einfluss? Effekte sozialräumlicher Indikatoren au," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 39(2), pages 163-188, October.
    14. Darragh Flannery & Cathal O'Donoghue, 2016. "Utilizing Microsimulation to Estimate the Private and Fiscal Returns to Education: Ireland 1987–2011," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 84(1), pages 55-80, January.

    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. John Cullinan & Darragh Flannery & Sharon Walsh & Selina Mccoy, 2013. "Distance Effects, Social Class and the Decision to Participate in Higher Education in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 44(1), pages 19-51.
    2. Flannery, Darragh & O’Donoghue, Cathal, 2013. "The demand for higher education: A static structural approach accounting for individual heterogeneity and nesting patterns," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 243-257.
    3. Flannery, Darragh & O'Donoghue, Cathal, 2009. "Participation in Higher Education: A Random Parameter Logit Approach with Policy Simulations," IZA Discussion Papers 4163, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Carlos Giovanni González Espitia & Jhon James Mora Rodríguez & Andrés Felipe Cuadros Meñaca, 2014. "Oportunidades educativas y características familiares en Colombia: un análisis por cohortes," Revista de Economía del Rosario, Universidad del Rosario, June.
    5. Manuel Salas Velasco, 2004. "Rendimientos privados de las inversiones en educación superior a partir de ecuaciones de ingresos," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 169(2), pages 87-117, June.
    6. Leszek Wincenciak, 2015. "Was It All Worth It? On the Value of Tertiary Education for Generation ’77 in Poland," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 42.
    7. Arnaud Chevalier & Colm Harmon & Vincent O’ Sullivan & Ian Walker, 2013. "The impact of parental income and education on the schooling of their children," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, December.
    8. Carlos Garriga & Mark P. Keightley, 2007. "A general equilibrium theory of college with education subsidies, in-school labor supply, and borrowing constraints," Working Papers 2007-051, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    9. Issofou NJIFEN & Aicha PEMBOURA, 2020. "Hétérogénéité dans les rendements de l’éducation au Cameroun : une estimation en présence des biais de sélection et d’endogénéité," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 52, pages 105-126.
    10. Stacey Chen, 2003. "Does COllege Attendance Increase Wage Volatility," Discussion Papers 03-01, University at Albany, SUNY, Department of Economics.
    11. Ben-Halima, B. & Chusseau, N. & Hellier, J., 2014. "Skill premia and intergenerational education mobility: The French case," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 50-64.
    12. Heckman, James J. & Lochner, Lance J. & Todd, Petra E., 2006. "Earnings Functions, Rates of Return and Treatment Effects: The Mincer Equation and Beyond," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 7, pages 307-458, Elsevier.
    13. Elena Arias Ortiz & Catherine Dehon, 2008. "What are the Factors of Success at University? A Case Study in Belgium," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 54(2), pages 121-148.
    14. Dragomirescu-Gaina, Catalin & Elia, Leandro & Weber, Anke, 2015. "A fast-forward look at tertiary education attainment in Europe 2020," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 804-819.
    15. Monazza Aslam, 2006. "Rates of Return to Education by Gender in Pakistan," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-064, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    16. Sara Ayllón & Natalia Nollenberger, 2021. "The Unequal Opportunity For Skills Acquisition During The Great Recession In Europe," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(2), pages 289-316, June.
    17. Jesus Crespo Cuaresma & Anna Raggl, 2016. "The dynamics of returns to education in Uganda: National and subnational trends," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 34(3), pages 385-422, May.
    18. Chalfin, Aaron & Deza, Monica, 2019. "The intergenerational effects of education on delinquency," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 553-571.
    19. Uzma Ahmad & Steven McIntosh & Gurleen Popli, 2022. "Selection and performance in post‐compulsory education," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 3-31, February.
    20. Keane, Michael P. & Todd, Petra E. & Wolpin, Kenneth I., 2011. "The Structural Estimation of Behavioral Models: Discrete Choice Dynamic Programming Methods and Applications," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 4, pages 331-461, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    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:eso:journl:v:40:y:2009:i:1:p:73-107. 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: Aedin Doris (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.esr.ie .

    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.