School-to-work Transitions in Italy. A steeplechase with no (2009)
| Venue: | University of Sassari, Sassari |
| Citations: | 2 - 1 self |
BibTeX
@INPROCEEDINGS{Pastore09school-to-worktransitions,
author = {Francesco Pastore},
title = {School-to-work Transitions in Italy. A steeplechase with no},
booktitle = {University of Sassari, Sassari},
year = {2009}
}
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Abstract
Abstract. Despite the massive participation of young people in the Italian university system, the share of university graduates is one of the lowest in Europe. This paper seeks to investigate the reasons of this paradox by looking at the theory of investment in human capital. The annual rate of return to high education in Italy are just below those in other countries, while the direct and indirect costs are similar to (if not lower than) those in other EU countries. These factors hence cannot explain the low average educational level of Italian young people. The proposed explanation of this paper is the enormous time necessary to achieve a university degree: this reduces the cumulated return to education, while dramatically increasing the opportunity cost of education. Heckprobit estimates of the returns to education in terms of employment opportunities as based on Household Survey data (SHIW) suggest that education is a statistically significant predictor of employment only for the over-30. Similar conclusions can be drawn for returns to education estimated by a Heckit model on the same data. This suggests that the ineffective working of the university system truncates the earnings profile of graduates as compared to individuals with a high school dimploma.
Keyphrases
school-to-work transition high education opportunity cost household survey data young people annual rate employment opportunity human capital heckit model eu country university graduate university system proposed explanation similar conclusion ineffective working university degree massive participation low average educational level enormous time italian young people high school dimploma heckprobit estimate cumulated return significant predictor italian university system indirect cost earnings profile
