Return on education
Return on education is understood as the percentage gain in earned income that a person achieves through additional educational measures.
From the point of view of society as a whole, the return on education is the increase in value added in the economy as a whole , which is caused by additional investments in education.
From a fiscal point of view, the return on education is the sum of the (future) additional tax income generated by additional education investments.
Human capital and investment in education
The idea of calculating returns related to education is based on human capital theory .
Measurement of return on education
The measurement of the return on education is part of education controlling . The classic method of estimating returns on education is the Mincer income equation .
The scientific studies on the subject of returns on education come to the uniform result of positive returns on education. The amount of the specific return on education fluctuates not only very strongly depending on the type of educational measure, but also depending on the study.
According to the OECD , these returns on education are between 6 and 10 percent in Germany, which is above the returns on the capital market. For the first time, the DIW has also examined returns on education with the help of data from the Socio-Economic Panel ( SOEP ) and included the risk of unemployment. The returns to education calculated in this way are, on average, one to three percentage points higher than previously assumed, especially where the risk of unemployment is greatest. In general, the returns for vocational training are slightly higher than those for university training. According to the DIW calculations, the return on education for middle-class qualifications is highest for women in eastern Germany at 18.35 percent, while the return for men in the old federal states is 8.61 percent.
Wolter / Weber state for Switzerland that the highest returns on education can be achieved through higher vocational training and a degree at a university of applied sciences. University education, on the other hand, shows a significantly lower return.
Steiner / Lauer also show a higher return on education for women compared to men in Germany and most other countries. However, they note a general decline in return on education since the 1980s. The decline in the return on education is a. a consequence of the generalization of higher educational qualifications, through which larger groups of the population are forced to increasingly invest in education in order to maintain their educational advantage (by attending private kindergartens, schools and universities).
See also
literature
- Spraul, Katharina: Return on education as a target for university management. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin 2006.
Individual evidence
- ↑ A worthwhile return on education - women in East Germany benefit the most
- ↑ SC Wolter, B. Weber (2003): What wages and educational returns do students expect at Swiss universities? In: U. Backes-Gellner & C. Schmidtke (Ed.): University economics - analyzes of internal control problems and macroeconomic effects. Writings of the Verein für Socialpolitik, Volume 296, pp. 145–161.