IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/jau/wpaper/2020-06.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The education pillar of the Europe 2020 strategy: A convergence analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Juan Carlos Cuestas

    (Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain)

  • Mercedes Monfort

    (IEI and Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain)

  • Javier Ordóñez

    (IEI and Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain)

Abstract

In March 2010, the European Commission launched the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in the EU. Education is a major pillar of Europe 2020 strategy due to its long-run impact on economic growth, productivity, and social cohesion. The Europe 2020 strategy established two headline targets on early leavers from education and training and tertiary educational attainment at the EU level. This paper attempts to assess the Europe 2020 strategy for the education pillar in terms of convergence across countries. Despite the fact that every country in the EU has its own national targets in these two headline indicators, progress on the achievement of the Europe 2020 strategy requires convergence. Thus, even if the EU as a whole meets its targets in 2020, the existence of a growing divide between the best and worst performing countries would cast doubt on the prospects of real economic convergence and the sustainability of the process. Our empirical findings reveal the existence of convergence clubs in educational attainment and the early leavers rate, and points towards the idea of multi-speed transitional dynamics in Europe, calling into question the convergence in educational performance in the EU.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan Carlos Cuestas & Mercedes Monfort & Javier Ordóñez, 2020. "The education pillar of the Europe 2020 strategy: A convergence analysis," Working Papers 2020/06, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
  • Handle: RePEc:jau:wpaper:2020/06
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.doctreballeco.uji.es/wpficheros/Cuestas_et_al_06_2020.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter C. B. Phillips & Donggyu Sul, 2009. "Economic transition and growth," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(7), pages 1153-1185, November.
    2. Peter C. B. Phillips & Donggyu Sul, 2007. "Transition Modeling and Econometric Convergence Tests," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(6), pages 1771-1855, November.
    3. Black, Sandra E. & Devereux, Paul J., 2011. "Recent Developments in Intergenerational Mobility," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 16, pages 1487-1541, Elsevier.
    4. Acemoglu, Daron & Pischke, J. -S., 2001. "Changes in the wage structure, family income, and children's education," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 890-904, May.
    5. Monfort, Mercedes & Cuestas, Juan Carlos & Ordóñez, Javier, 2013. "Real convergence in Europe: A cluster analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 689-694.
    6. Bernard, Andrew B. & Durlauf, Steven N., 1996. "Interpreting tests of the convergence hypothesis," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1-2), pages 161-173.
    7. Javier Ordóñez & Hector Sala & José Silva, 2015. "Real unit labour costs in Eurozone countries: drivers and clusters," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-19, December.
    8. Gary S. Becker & Nigel Tomes, 1994. "Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 257-298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Mercedes Monfort & Javier Ordóñez & Hector Sala, 2018. "Inequality and Unemployment Patterns in Europe: Does Integration Lead to (Real) Convergence?," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 703-724, September.
    10. Heckman, James J, 1976. "A Life-Cycle Model of Earnings, Learning, and Consumption," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(4), pages 11-44, August.
    11. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    12. Becker, Gary S & Tomes, Nigel, 1979. "An Equilibrium Theory of the Distribution of Income and Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1153-1189, December.
    13. Juan Ángel Lafuente & Amparo Marco & Mercedes Monfort & Javier Ordóñez, 2020. "Social Exclusion and Convergence in the EU: An Assessment of the Europe 2020 Strategy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-22, February.
    14. Keane, Michael P & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 1997. "The Career Decisions of Young Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(3), pages 473-522, June.
    15. Carlino, Gerald A. & Mills, Leonard O., 1993. "Are U.S. regional incomes converging? : A time series analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 335-346, November.
    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. Maynou, Laia & Ordóñez, Javier & Silva, José Ignacio, 2022. "Convergence and determinants of young people not in employment, education or training: An European regional analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).

    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. Juan Carlos Cuestas & Mercedes Monfort & Javier Ordóñez, 2020. "Stochastic convergence in real personal disposable income in the EU," Working Papers 2020/09, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    2. Juan C. Cuestas & Mercedes Monfort & Javier Ordóñez, 2021. "Stochastic convergence in real personal disposable income in the EU: A note," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 6390-6394, October.
    3. Juan Ángel Lafuente & Amparo Marco & Mercedes Monfort & Javier Ordóñez, 2020. "Social Exclusion and Convergence in the EU: An Assessment of the Europe 2020 Strategy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Dragomirescu-Gaina, Catalin & Elia, Leandro & Weber, Anke, 2015. "A fast-forward look at tertiary education attainment in Europe 2020," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 804-819.
    5. Maynou, Laia & Ordóñez, Javier & Silva, José Ignacio, 2022. "Convergence and determinants of young people not in employment, education or training: An European regional analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    6. Maynou, Laia & Monfort, Mercedes & Morley, Bruce & Ordóñez, Javier, 2021. "Club convergence in European housing prices: The role of macroeconomic and housing market fundamentals," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    7. Sulekha Hembram & Souparna Maji & Sushil Kr. Haldar, 2019. "Club Convergence among the Major Indian States During 1982–2014: Does Investment in Human Capital Matter?," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 20(2), pages 184-204, September.
    8. Monfort, Mercedes & Cuestas, Juan Carlos & Ordóñez, Javier, 2013. "Real convergence in Europe: A cluster analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 689-694.
    9. Cavallaro, Eleonora & Villani, Ilaria, 2021. "Real income convergence and the patterns of financial integration in the EU," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    10. Peter C. B. Phillips & Donggyu Sul, 2009. "Economic transition and growth," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(7), pages 1153-1185, November.
    11. Matsuki, Takashi, 2019. "Per capita output convergence across Asian countries: Evidence from covariate unit root test with an endogenous structural break," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 99-118.
    12. Pui Sun Tam, 2018. "Economic Transition and Growth Dynamics in Asia: Harmony or Discord?," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 60(3), pages 361-387, September.
    13. Lau, Chi Keung & Pal, Shreya & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar & Gozgor, Giray, 2022. "Economic globalization convergence in high and low globalized developing economies: Implications for the post Covid-19 era," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1027-1039.
    14. Charles Shaaba Saba & Nicholas Ngepah & Christian Nsiah, 2020. "Convergence in military expenditure and economic growth in Africa and its regional economic communities: evidence from a club clustering algorithm," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 1832344-183, January.
    15. Laia Maynou & Javier Ordóñez & José Ignacio Silva, 2020. "NEET rates convergence in Europe: A regional analysis," Working Papers 2020/08, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    16. Cieślik, Andrzej & Wciślik, Dominika Róża, 2020. "Convergence among the CEE-8 economies and their catch-up towards the EU-15," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 39-48.
    17. Mihály Borsi & Norbert Metiu, 2015. "The evolution of economic convergence in the European Union," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 657-681, March.
    18. Sulekha Hembram & Sushil Kr. Haldar, 2019. "Beta, sigma and club convergence: Indian experience from 1980 to 2015," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 343-366, December.
    19. Diego Aboal & Bibiana Lanzilotta & Martin Pereyra & Maria Paz Queraltó, 2020. "Regional Economic Development and Convergence Clubs in Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo 17902, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA).
    20. Ben-Halima, B. & Chusseau, N. & Hellier, J., 2014. "Skill premia and intergenerational education mobility: The French case," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 50-64.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    education; human capital; convergence; Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration

    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:jau:wpaper:2020/06. 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: María Aurora Garcia Gallego (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ueujies.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.