IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imd/wpaper/wp2007-18.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Mapping the European regional educational distribution: Educational attainment and inequality

Author

Listed:

Abstract

The geography of education, especially at sub-national level, is a huge black box. Basically nothing is known about the distribution of educational attainment and inequality across regions in Europe. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by mapping educational attainment and inequality in 102 regions in western Europe, using data extracted from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) covering more than 100,000 individuals over the period 1995-2000. The results of this Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) reveal a strong correlation between levels of educational attainment and inequality across regions in Europe. Regions with similar educational conditions tend to cluster, often within national borders. In addition a North-South and an urban-rural dimension is evident. Northern regions and large European metropoli have not only the most educated labour force, but also the lowest levels of inequality. Educational inequality seems to be, in any case, a fundamentally within region phenomenon. 90 percent of the educational inequality in Europe takes place among individuals living in the same region.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Vassilis Tselios, 2007. "Mapping the European regional educational distribution: Educational attainment and inequality," Working Papers 2007-18, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados (IMDEA) Ciencias Sociales.
    • Handle: RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2007-18
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.imdea.org/pdf/imdea-wp2007-18.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. José De Gregorio & Jong–Wha Lee, 2002. "Education and Income Inequality: New Evidence From Cross‐Country Data," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 48(3), pages 395-416, September.
    2. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Andrew F. Newman, 1991. "Risk-Bearing and the Theory of Income Distribution," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 211-235.
    3. Catherine Baumont & Cem Ertur & Julie Le Gallo, 2003. "Spatial Convergence Clubs and the European Growth Process, 1980-1995," Post-Print halshs-00250290, HAL.
    4. Robert P. Haining, 1995. "Data Problems in Spatial Econometric Modeling," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Luc Anselin & Raymond J. G. M. Florax (ed.), New Directions in Spatial Econometrics, chapter 7, pages 156-171, Springer.
    5. Barbara Sianesi & John Van Reenen, 2003. "The Returns to Education: Macroeconomics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(2), pages 157-200, April.
    6. Durlauf, Steven N & Johnson, Paul A, 1995. "Multiple Regimes and Cross-Country Growth Behaviour," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 365-384, Oct.-Dec..
    7. Tallman, Ellis W. & Wang, Ping, 1994. "Human capital and endogenous growth evidence from Taiwan," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 101-124, August.
    8. Kevin M. Murphy & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1991. "The Allocation of Talent: Implications for Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 503-530.
    9. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 407-443.
    10. Ram, Rati, 1990. "Educational Expansion and Schooling Inequality: International Evidence and Some Implications," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(2), pages 266-274, May.
    11. repec:bla:econom:v:68:y:2001:i:270:p:203-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. 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.
    13. Carlotta Berti Ceroni, 2001. "Poverty Traps and Human Capital Accumulation," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(270), pages 203-219, May.
    14. Thomas, Vinod & Wang, Yan & Fan, Xibo, 2001. "Measuring education inequality - Gini coefficients of education," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2525, The World Bank.
    15. Raymond J. G. M. Florax & Serge Rey, 1995. "The Impacts of Misspecified Spatial Interaction in Linear Regression Models," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Luc Anselin & Raymond J. G. M. Florax (ed.), New Directions in Spatial Econometrics, chapter 5, pages 111-135, Springer.
    16. Temple, Jonathan, 1999. "A positive effect of human capital on growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 131-134, October.
    17. Jerik Hanushek & Dennis Kimko, 2006. "Schooling, Labor-force Quality, and the Growth of Nations," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 1, pages 154-193.
    18. Ribar, David C, 1994. "Teenage Fertility and High School Completion," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(3), pages 413-424, August.
    19. Takahiro Akita, 2003. "Decomposing regional income inequality in China and Indonesia using two-stage nested Theil decomposition method," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 37(1), pages 55-77, February.
    20. Giovanni Andrea Cornia & Tony Addison & Sampsa Kiiski, 2003. "Income Distribution Changes and their Impact in the Post-World War II Period," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2003-28, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    21. Daniel Felsenstein & Ronald McQuaid & Philip McCann & Daniel Shefer (ed.), 2001. "Public Investment and Regional Economic Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2440.
    22. Catherine Baumont & Cem Ertur & Julie Gallo, 2003. "Spatial Convergence Clubs and the European Regional Growth Process,1980–1995," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Bernard Fingleton (ed.), European Regional Growth, chapter 4, pages 131-158, Springer.
    23. Amparo Castello & Rafael Domenech, 2002. "Human Capital Inequality and Economic Growth: Some New Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(478), pages 187-200, March.
    24. Santiago Budría & Javier Díaz-Giménez, 2007. "Economic inequality in Spain: the european community household panel dataset," Spanish Economic Review, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 1-38, March.
    25. C G Amrhein, 1995. "Searching for the Elusive Aggregation Effect: Evidence from Statistical Simulations," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 27(1), pages 105-119, January.
    26. Bernard Fingleton (ed.), 2003. "European Regional Growth," Advances in Spatial Science, Springer, number 978-3-662-07136-6, december.
    27. Gemmell, Norman, 1996. "Evaluating the Impacts of Human Capital Stocks and Accumulation on Economic Growth: Some New Evidence," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 58(1), pages 9-28, February.
    28. Manfred Fischer & Claudia Stirböck, 2006. "Pan-European regional income growth and club-convergence," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 40(4), pages 693-721, December.
    29. Somik V. Lall & Serdar Yilmaz, 2001. "Regional economic convergence: Do policy instruments make a difference?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 35(1), pages 153-166.
    30. Temple, Jonathan R. W., 2001. "Generalizations that aren't? Evidence on education and growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 905-918, May.
    31. Hannum, Emily & Buchmann, Claudia, 2005. "Global Educational Expansion and Socio-Economic Development: An Assessment of Findings from the Social Sciences," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 333-354, March.
    32. Maria Abreu & Henri L.F. de Groot & Raymond J.G.M. Florax, 2004. "Space and Growth," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 04-129/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    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. Ahmed, Sofia, 2011. "Does economic geography matter for Pakistan? a spatial exploratory analysis of income and education inequalities," MPRA Paper 35062, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Yannis Psycharis & Vassilis Tselios, 2016. "Politics and Investment: Examining the Territorial Allocation of Public Investment in Greece," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(7), pages 1097-1112, July.
    3. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Vassilis Tselios, 2012. "Welfare Regimes and the Incentives to Work and Get Educated," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(1), pages 125-149, January.
    4. Claude DIEBOLT & Ralph HIPPE, 2017. "Regional human capital inequality in Europe in the long run, 1850-2010," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 45, pages 5-30.
    5. Agasisti, Tommaso & Cordero-Ferrera, Jose M., 2013. "Educational disparities across regions: A multilevel analysis for Italy and Spain," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1079-1102.

    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. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Tselios, Vassilis, 2007. "Analysis of Educational Distribution in Europe: Educational Attainment and Inequality Within Regions," Papers DYNREG08, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    2. Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2008. "The Role of Cognitive Skills in Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(3), pages 607-668, September.
    3. Benos, Nikos & Zotou, Stefania, 2014. "Education and Economic Growth: A Meta-Regression Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 669-689.
    4. Maria ABREU & Henri L.F. DE GROOT & Raymond J.G.M. FLORAX, 2005. "Space And Growth: A Survey Of Empirical Evidence And Methods," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 21, pages 13-44.
    5. Maria Abreu & Henri L.F. de Groot & Raymond J.G.M. Florax, 2004. "Space and Growth," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 04-129/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    6. Rogers, Mark Llewellyn, 2008. "Directly unproductive schooling: How country characteristics affect the impact of schooling on growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 356-385, February.
    7. Michael S. Delgado & Daniel J. Henderson & Christopher F. Parmeter, 2014. "Does Education Matter for Economic Growth?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 76(3), pages 334-359, June.
    8. Park, Jungsoo, 2006. "Dispersion of human capital and economic growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 520-539, September.
    9. 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.
    10. Tan, Clifford, 2013. "The contribution of university rankings to country's GDP per capita," MPRA Paper 53900, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Middendorf Torge, 2006. "Human Capital and Economic Growth in OECD Countries," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 226(6), pages 670-686, December.
    12. Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose & Vassilis Tselios, 2009. "Education And Income Inequality In The Regions Of The European Union," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 411-437, August.
    13. Maté Fodor & Jean Luc De Meulemeester & Denis Rochat, 2019. "The Wavering Economic Thought About The Link Between Education And Growth," Working Papers CEB 19-006, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    14. Tan Kuan Lu, Clifford, 2014. "University Rankings Game and its relation to GDP per capita and GDP growth," MPRA Paper 53933, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Dr Walid Y Alali, 2010. "Influence the Education Levels on Income Worldwide: Empirical Evidence," Post-Print hal-03960230, HAL.
    16. Ulrich Reuter, 2006. "What Kind of Education Does China Need?: The Impact of Educational Attainment on Local Growth and Disparities," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-127, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Tan Kuan Lu, Clifford, 2013. "Do university rankings matter for growth?," MPRA Paper 52705, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Måns Söderbom & Francis Teal, 2003. "Openness and human capital as sources of productivity growth: An empirical investigation," CSAE Working Paper Series 2003-06, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    19. Mastromarco, Camilla & Ghosh, Sucharita, 2009. "Foreign Capital, Human Capital, and Efficiency: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis for Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 489-502, February.
    20. Bos, J.W.B. & Economidou, C. & Koetter, M. & Kolari, J.W., 2010. "Do all countries grow alike?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 113-127, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    educational attainment; educational inequality; regions; exploratory spatial data analysis; Europe; urbanisation; EU North-South divide;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:imd:wpaper:wp2007-18. 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: IMDEA RePEc Maintainer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/icimdes.html .

    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.