Level of Education and Economic Growth in the Member States of the European Union: A Comparative Analysis
Abstract
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aim of the article is to present the results of the analysis of the education level in the European Union countries and to verify the relationship between the education and the economic growth of the studied countries.
THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The basic problem of this publication is quantitative and comparative analysis of the level of education in the European Union countries (EU27). Research methods used in the paper are the analysis and synthesis of the literature on the subject as well as quantitative analysis of the education using statistical and taxonomic tools (descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, taxonomic measure of education [TME]). An analysis of regression and correlation is also conducted to investigate the relationship between education and economic growth.
THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The line of reasoning consists of three essential elements. The first part presents the issues of education and economic growth in the light of the theory. This is a selective review of literature. The second part contains a comprehensive description of the research tools and methods. Part three of the article presents the results of the investigation in the field of education and its relationship with economic growth. The level of education was determined on the basis of an aggregated measure constructed from diagnostics variables. GDP per capita was used to estimate economic growth. The papers ends with conclusion and recommendations for future research.
RESEARCH RESULTS: On the basis of theoretical considerations, the influence of knowledge and education on economic growth has been confirmed, particularly in the models of endogenous growth. In empirical research, a great part of the research also indicates a positive relationship between education and economic growth. There are also elaborations that do not confirm this correlation. This study provides two important information on education and economic growth in the Member States of the European Union. Firstly, the area of the European Union is very differentiated taking into account the two criteria indicated. Over the years, a gradual reduction in disparities is observed both in GDP per capita and in TME. Secondly, quantitative analysis has confirmed the emerging relationship between education and economic growth.
CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The issue of relationship between education and economic growth is very important and timely. There is lack of papers in the literature that use taxonomic methods to evaluate education. These tools give great opportunity to present the problem in a multidimensional and comprehensive manner, taking into account a large number of variables. The research should be treated as a preliminary study in this field, which requires further in-depth investigation. It is recommended to include more diagnostic variables related to education, as well as, more advanced research techniques in the fields of statistics, econometrics and taxonomy.
References
Bontis, N. (2004). National Intellectual Capital Index: A United Nation Initiative for the Arab Region. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 5(10), 13-39.
Chi, W. (2008). The role of human capital in China’s economic development: Review and new evidence. China Economic Review, 19(3), 421-436.
Hellwig, Z. (1967). Procedure of Evaluating High Manpower Data and Typology of Countries by Mean of Taxonomic Methods. Paris: UNESCO.
Islam, N. (1995). Growth empirics: A panel data approach. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110(4), 1127-1170.
Jabłoński, Ł. (2012). Kapitał ludzki a konwergencja gospodarcza. Warszawa: C.H. Beck.
Kyriacou, G.A. (1992). Level and Growth Effects of Human Capital: A Cross-Country Study of the Convergence Hypothesis. Economic Research Reports, 19-26.
Landau, D. (1983). Government expenditure and economic growth: a cross – country study. Southern Economic Journal, 49(1), 783-792.
Lucas, R.E. (1988). On the mechanics of economic development. Journal of Monetary Economics, 22, 3-42.
Lucas, R.E. (2010). Wykłady z teorii wzrostu gospodarczego. Warszawa: C.H. Beck.
Łuczak, A. & Wysocki, F. (2013). Zastosowanie mediany przestrzennej Webera i metody TOPSIS w ujęciu pozycyjnym do konstrukcji syntetycznego miernika rozwoju. In K. Jajuga & M. Walesiak (red.), Taksonomia 20. Klasyfikacja i analiza danych – teoria i zastosowania. Wrocław: PN UE we Wrocławiu.
Malina, A. (2004). Wielowymiarowa analiza przestrzennego zróżnicowania struktury gospodarki Polski według województw. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej w Krakowie.
Mankiw, N.G., Romer, D., & Weil, D.N. (1992). A contribution to the economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 7(2), 407-437.
Romer, P.M. (1986). Increasing return and long – run growth. Journal of Political Economy, 94(4), 1002-1037.
Romer, P.M. (1990). Endogenous technological change. Journal of Political Economy, 98(5), 71-102.
Rządziński, L. & Sworowska, A. (2016). Parametric and Non-Parametric Methods for Efficiency Assessment of State Higher Vocational Schools in 2009-2011.
Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 4(1), 95-112. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15678/EBER.2016.040107.
Shaihani, M., Harisb, A., Ismaila, N., & Saida, R. (2011). Long Run and Short Run Effects on Education Levels: Case in Malaysia. International Journal of Economic Research, 2(6), 77-87.
Skubiak, B. (2013). Edukacja jako czynnik wspierający rozwój gospodarczy. Implikacje dla Polski. Współczesne problemy ekonomiczne: wybrane zagadnienia teoretyczne a praktyka gospodarcza, 129, 195-203.
Tallman, E. & Wang, P. (1994). Human capital and endogenous growth: evidence from Taiwan. Journal of Monetary Economics, 34, 101-124.
Wojtyna, A. (1995). Polityka ekonomiczna a wzrost gospodarczy. Gospodarka Narodowa, 6, 1-10.
Wydymus, S. (1984). Metody wielowymiarowej analizy rozwoju społeczno‑gospodarczego. Kraków: Zeszyty Naukowe, seria specjalna: monografie 62.
Zeliaś, A. (2000). Taksonomiczna analiza przestrzennego zróżnicowania poziomu życia w Polsce w ujęciu dynamicznym. Kraków: Wydawnictwo AE w Krakowie.
Copyright (c) 2017 HORIZONS OF EDUCATION
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain the copyright to their work while granting the journal the right of first publication. The work will be simultaneously licensed under a CC BY-ND license, which permits others to share the work with proper credit given to the author and the original publication in this journal.
- Authors may enter into additional, non-exclusive agreements for the distribution of the published version of the work (e.g., posting it in an institutional repository or publishing it in another journal), provided that the original publication in this journal is acknowledged.
We allow and encourage authors to share their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on personal websites) both before and during the submission process, as this can foster beneficial exchanges and lead to earlier and increased citations of the published work. (See The Effect of Open Access). We recommend using any of the following academic networking platforms:
