IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/edecon/v22y2014i5p449-470.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Increasing returns to education and the impact on social capital

Author

Listed:
  • Gareth D. Leeves

Abstract

The returns to education have been increasing. It is suggested that high-skilled workers' social capital investment has been adversely affected by the increasing incentives to devote human capital to career development. Lower social capital is linked to reduced economic growth and innovation and higher transaction costs and is detrimental to individual well-being. We find evidence to suggest there is an increasing opportunity cost associated with greater levels of social capital investment for high-skilled workers, especially those with more demands on their time. These results provide support for increased availability of work flexibility policies that can improve the work-life balance.

Suggested Citation

  • Gareth D. Leeves, 2014. "Increasing returns to education and the impact on social capital," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(5), pages 449-470, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:22:y:2014:i:5:p:449-470
    DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2012.660133
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09645292.2012.660133
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09645292.2012.660133?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alison L. Booth & Marco Francesconi & Gylfi Zoega, 2003. "Unions, Work-Related Training, and Wages: Evidence for British Men," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 57(1), pages 68-91, October.
    2. Fabien Postel-Vinay & Hélène Turon, 2007. "The Public Pay Gap in Britain: Small Differences That (Don't?) Matter," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(523), pages 1460-1503, October.
    3. Christoph Hauser & Gottfried Tappeiner & Janette Walde, 2007. "The Learning Region: The Impact of Social Capital and Weak Ties on Innovation," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(1), pages 75-88.
    4. Stephen Knack & Philip Keefer, 1997. "Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1251-1288.
    5. Moretti, Enrico, 2004. "Estimating the social return to higher education: evidence from longitudinal and repeated cross-sectional data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 175-212.
    6. John F. Helliwell, 2006. "Well-Being, Social Capital and Public Policy: What's New?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(510), pages 34-45, March.
    7. William Maloney & Graham Smith & Gerry Stoker, 2000. "Social Capital and Urban Governance: Adding a More Contextualized ‘Top‐down’ Perspective," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 48(4), pages 802-820, September.
    8. Huang, Jian & Maassen van den Brink, Henriëtte & Groot, Wim, 2009. "A meta-analysis of the effect of education on social capital," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 454-464, August.
    9. Troy Tassier, 2006. "Labor Market Implications of Weak Ties," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(3), pages 704-719, January.
    10. Jonathan Guryan & Erik Hurst & Melissa Kearney, 2008. "Parental Education and Parental Time with Children," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 23-46, Summer.
    11. Edward L. Glaeser & David Laibson & Bruce Sacerdote, 2002. "An Economic Approach to Social Capital," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(483), pages 437-458, November.
    12. Roberta Capello & Alessandra Faggian, 2005. "Collective Learning and Relational Capital in Local Innovation Processes," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 75-87.
    13. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2004. "The Role of Social Capital in Financial Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 526-556, June.
    14. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2004. "What Effect Do Unions Have on Wages Now and Would Freeman and Medoff Be Surprised?," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 25(3), pages 383-414, July.
    15. James Heckman & Edward Vytlacil, 2001. "Identifying The Role Of Cognitive Ability In Explaining The Level Of And Change In The Return To Schooling," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(1), pages 1-12, February.
    16. Fidrmuc, Jan & Gërxhani, Klarita, 2008. "Mind the gap! Social capital, East and West," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 264-286, June.
    17. John R. Hipp & Andrew Perrin, 2006. "Nested Loyalties: Local Networks' Effects on Neighbourhood and Community Cohesion," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(13), pages 2503-2523, December.
    18. Justin L. Tobias, 2003. "Are Returns to Schooling Concentrated Among the Most Able? A Semiparametric Analysis of the Ability–earnings Relationships," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(1), pages 1-29, February.
    19. repec:fth:prinin:425 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Akçomak, I. Semih & ter Weel, Bas, 2009. "Social capital, innovation and growth: Evidence from Europe," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(5), pages 544-567, July.
    21. Peter Urwin & Giorgio Di Pietro & Patrick Sturgis & Gregor Jack, 2008. "Measuring the Returns to Networking and the Accumulation of Social Capital: Any Evidence of Bonding, Bridging, or Linking?," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(5), pages 941-968, November.
    22. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Paul Frijters, 2004. "How Important is Methodology for the estimates of the determinants of Happiness?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(497), pages 641-659, July.
    23. Ashenfelter, Orley & Harmon, Colm & Oosterbeek, Hessel, 1999. "A review of estimates of the schooling/earnings relationship, with tests for publication bias," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 453-470, November.
    24. Jean-Marc Callois & Francis Aubert, 2007. "Towards Indicators of Social Capital for Regional Development Issues: The Case of French Rural Areas," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(6), pages 809-821.
    25. Daniel Z. Levin & Rob Cross, 2004. "The Strength of Weak Ties You Can Trust: The Mediating Role of Trust in Effective Knowledge Transfer," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(11), pages 1477-1490, November.
    26. Nick Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2006. "Management Practices, Work--L ife Balance, and Productivity: A Review of Some Recent Evidence," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 22(4), pages 457-482, Winter.
    27. Martin Ruef, 2002. "Strong ties, weak ties and islands: structural and cultural predictors of organizational innovation," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 11(3), pages 427-449, June.
    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. Bo-Xiang Hsu & Yi-Min Chen, 2021. "Why university matters: the impact of university resources on foreign workers’ human and social capital accumulation," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 45-61, March.
    2. Richard P.C. Brown & Gareth Leeves & Nichola Kitson & Prabha Prayaga, 2015. "Give and Take or Give and Give: Charitable Giving in Migrant Households," Discussion Papers Series 547, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.

    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. Leeves, Gareth.D. & Herbert, Ric., 2014. "Gender differences in social capital investment: Theory and evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 377-385.
    2. Riccardo Crescenzi & Luisa Gagliardi & Marco Percoco, 2013. "Social Capital and the Innovative Performance of Italian Provinces," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(4), pages 908-929, April.
    3. Richard P.C. Brown & Gareth Leeves & Nichola Kitson & Prabha Prayaga, 2015. "Give and Take or Give and Give: Charitable Giving in Migrant Households," Discussion Papers Series 547, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    4. Yamamura, Eiji, 2008. "The role of social capital in homogeneous society: Review of recent researches in Japan," MPRA Paper 11385, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Semih Akçomak & Hanna Müller-Zick, 2013. "Trust and Innovation in Europe: Causal, spatial and non-linear forces," STPS Working Papers 1304, STPS - Science and Technology Policy Studies Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Dec 2013.
    6. Angel de la Fuente & Antonio Ciccone, 2003. "Human capital in a global and knowledge-based economy," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 562.03, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    7. Riccardo Crescenzi & Luisa Gagliardi & Marco Percoco, 2013. "The ‘Bright’ Side of Social Capital: How ‘Bridging’ Makes Italian Provinces More Innovative," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Riccardo Crescenzi & Marco Percoco (ed.), Geography, Institutions and Regional Economic Performance, edition 127, pages 143-164, Springer.
    8. Jose Manuel Lasierra Esteban, 2014. "Una aproximación a los determinantes del Capital Social individual en España," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 210(3), pages 33-55, September.
    9. Sibylle Puntscher & Christoph Hauser & Janette Walde & Gottfried Tappeiner, 2016. "Measuring Social Capital with Aggregated Indicators: A Case of Ecological Fallacy?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 431-449, January.
    10. Roberto Antonietti & Ron Boschma, 2021. "Social capital, resilience, and regional diversification in Italy [Social capital, innovation and growth: evidence from Europe]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 30(3), pages 762-777.
    11. Forte, Anabel & Peiró-Palomino, Jesús & Tortosa-Ausina, Emili, 2015. "Does social capital matter for European regional growth?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 47-64.
    12. Lorenzo Rocco & Elena Fumagalli & Marc Suhrcke, 2014. "From Social Capital To Health – And Back," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(5), pages 586-605, May.
    13. Diemer, Andreas, 2023. "Divided we fall? The effect of manufacturing decline on the social capital of US communities," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120355, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Pénard, Thierry & Poussing, Nicolas & Suire, Raphaël, 2013. "Does the Internet make people happier?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 105-116.
    15. Christoph Hauser & Urban Perkmann & Sibylle Puntscher & Janette Walde & Gottfried Tappeiner, 2016. "Trust Works! Sources and Effects of Social Capital in the Workplace," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(2), pages 589-608, September.
    16. Calcagnini, Giorgio & Perugini, Francesco, 2019. "Social capital and well-being in the Italian provinces," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    17. Jesús Peiró-Palomino, 2016. "Social Capital and Economic Growth in Europe: Nonlinear Trends and Heterogeneous Regional Effects," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(5), pages 717-751, October.
    18. Argentiero, Amedeo & Cerqueti, Roy & Sabatini, Fabio, 2021. "Does social capital explain the Solow residual? A DSGE approach," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 35-53.
    19. Antinyan, Armenak & Baghdasaryan, Vardan & Grigoryan, Aleksandr, 2022. "Charitable giving, social capital, and positional concerns," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    20. Armenak Antinyan & Vardan Baghdasaryan & Aleksandr Grigoryan, 2018. "Social Preferences, Public Good Provision, Social Capital and Positional Concerns: Empirical Evidence from the South Caucasus," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp625, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.

    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:taf:edecon:v:22:y:2014:i:5:p:449-470. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CEDE20 .

    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.