Inequality of Opportunity Determinants of Access to Education – With a Special Focus on Income Inequality
(2011) NEKM01 20111Department of Economics
- Abstract (Swedish)
- In this study the concept of inequality of opportunity is applied to access to education and investigation is made over what determines this. A particular focus is set on income inequality and the role it plays for access to education. Several hypotheses regarding the relationship between income inequality and inequality in education, used as a proxy for access to education, can be thought of. Four hypotheses are presented in this study however there is no consensus regarding the sign of the investigated relationship.
This relation is empirically investigated in a cross-section analysis covering 64 countries. This study applies a model in which the change is used in both the dependent and the independent variable. The changes are... (More) - In this study the concept of inequality of opportunity is applied to access to education and investigation is made over what determines this. A particular focus is set on income inequality and the role it plays for access to education. Several hypotheses regarding the relationship between income inequality and inequality in education, used as a proxy for access to education, can be thought of. Four hypotheses are presented in this study however there is no consensus regarding the sign of the investigated relationship.
This relation is empirically investigated in a cross-section analysis covering 64 countries. This study applies a model in which the change is used in both the dependent and the independent variable. The changes are derived over the period 1975-1995 for income inequality and 1980-2000 for education inequality. Hopefully, as this method mitigates the otherwise not uncommon problem of endogeneity, the result will to a larger extent be able to give indication of a casual relationship.
Ultimately this study shows that in a simple model-specification a positive relation between income inequality and education inequality is found. However, as the model is extended to include control variables both the significance and magnitude of the relationship decreases. The control variables included in the model, initial GDP per capital level, initial education inequality, urbanization and the change in average years of education are however statistical significant. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1973861
- author
- Olsson, Johanna LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- NEKM01 20111
- year
- 2011
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Access to education, inequality in education, inequality in income, inequality of opportunity, empirical analysis
- language
- English
- id
- 1973861
- date added to LUP
- 2011-06-16 14:59:52
- date last changed
- 2011-06-16 14:59:52
@misc{1973861, abstract = {{In this study the concept of inequality of opportunity is applied to access to education and investigation is made over what determines this. A particular focus is set on income inequality and the role it plays for access to education. Several hypotheses regarding the relationship between income inequality and inequality in education, used as a proxy for access to education, can be thought of. Four hypotheses are presented in this study however there is no consensus regarding the sign of the investigated relationship. This relation is empirically investigated in a cross-section analysis covering 64 countries. This study applies a model in which the change is used in both the dependent and the independent variable. The changes are derived over the period 1975-1995 for income inequality and 1980-2000 for education inequality. Hopefully, as this method mitigates the otherwise not uncommon problem of endogeneity, the result will to a larger extent be able to give indication of a casual relationship. Ultimately this study shows that in a simple model-specification a positive relation between income inequality and education inequality is found. However, as the model is extended to include control variables both the significance and magnitude of the relationship decreases. The control variables included in the model, initial GDP per capital level, initial education inequality, urbanization and the change in average years of education are however statistical significant.}}, author = {{Olsson, Johanna}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Inequality of Opportunity Determinants of Access to Education – With a Special Focus on Income Inequality}}, year = {{2011}}, }