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Returns to Education across the Urban-Rural Hierarchy

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  • Mikaela Backman

    (Jönköping International Business School, Sweden)

Abstract

Returns to education are mainly influenced by the characteristics of the individual. However, returns also depend on location characteristics, suggesting location premia can exist for educational attainment. This paper analyzes regional variations to returns from education using Swedish municipalities. The political geography of Sweden assists the analysis since it can be divided into four categories based on size and commuting patterns. Based on the obtained results, the often-assumed hypothesis of equal returns to education for all regions in a country can be rejected. The highest returns to education are found in municipalities at the top of the urban-rural hierarchy (dense and large municipalities), and the lowest are in the most peripheral municipalities.

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  • Mikaela Backman, 2014. "Returns to Education across the Urban-Rural Hierarchy," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 44(1), pages 33-59, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:rre:publsh:v44:y:2014:i:1:p:35-61
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    2. Mikaela Backman & Pia Nilsson, 2018. "The role of cultural heritage in attracting skilled individuals," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 42(1), pages 111-138, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    returns to education; regional attributes; fixed-effects model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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