Prague Economic Papers 2019, 28(1):30-48 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.686

Returns to Tertiary Education in Western and Eastern Europe

Martina Mysíková1, Jiří Večerník2
1 Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic (martina.mysikova@soc.cas.cz)
2 Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic (jiri.vecernik@soc.cas.cz)

In the 1990s, the transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe witnessed an upward trend in returns to education, unlike in Western European countries. This upward trend led to much higher returns than in what was observed in the communist period or compared to the West. The surveys EU-SILC collected since 2005 show that although returns to tertiary education were converging across Europe, there is still a big difference between East and West, with returns considerably higher in the East. Panel analysis reveals also substantial differences in the factors behind returns to tertiary education in the East and the West. The assumed negative relationship between the share of tertiary-educated workers in the working-age population and the returns to tertiary education were confirmed only in the West. The job vacancy rate has a significant negative impact on returns to tertiary education only in the East. While in the West the labour market seems to react more to labour supply, in the East labour demand plays a more important role.

Keywords: returns to education, tertiary education, Western and Eastern Europe
JEL classification: D31, I26, J31, P20

Accepted: April 23, 2018; Published: February 1, 2019  Show citation

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Mysíková, M., & Večerník, J. (2019). Returns to Tertiary Education in Western and Eastern Europe. Prague Economic Papers28(1), 30-48. doi: 10.18267/j.pep.686
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