Level of Education and Economic Growth in the Member States of the European Union: A Comparative Analysis
Level of Education and Economic Growth in the Member States of the European Union: A Comparative Analysis

Summary/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 capital 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, econometric and taxonomy.

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