Friday 17 August 2012

Educational qualifications mismatch in Europe: Is it demand or supply driven?

an working paper by Emanuela Ghignoni and Alina Verashchagina published by the Sapienza University of Rome

Abstract

Most papers dealing with individual overeducation risks focus on labour supply characteristics and workers behaviour.

On the other hand, only few studies consider labour demand characteristics and technological change.

In this paper we analyse the influence of both demand and supply factors on educational mismatch in a set of ten European countries. Our hypothesis, confirmed by results obtained using ordered probit model with sample selection, is that demand factors generally play a major role in reducing educational mismatch in technologically more advanced countries, whereas supply factors are more important in countries that are lagging behind in the international division of labour.

At the same time, important cross-country and gender differences have been identified in the way the demand/supply factors operate. All this calls for the fine-tuning of policies aimed to tackle the problem of educational mismatch.

Apparently, EPL does not appear either to hinder technological development, nor increase overeducation.

Full text (PDF 45pp)

JEL classification: I2, J24, C35


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