Talking about the Pigou Paradox: Socio-Educational Background and Educational Outcomes of AlmaLaurea

Floro Caroleo () and Francesco Pastore

No 6021, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Italy has an immobile social structure. At the heart of this immobility is the educational system, with its high direct, but especially indirect cost, due to the extremely long time necessary to get a degree and to complete the subsequent school-to-work transition. Such cost prevents the educational system from reallocating the best opportunities to all talented young people and from altering the "typical" market mechanism of intergenerational transfer of human capital and social status. About ten years after the Bologna declaration and the "3+2" reform of the university system, AlmaLaurea data relative to 2008 shows a framework not much different from that of 2000. This is apparent by looking at the socio-educational background of university graduates. Parents' educational level seems to be the main determinant of the probability to get a university degree and to get it with the highest possible grade. As previous studies have also shown, the effect of the socio-educational background on children success at the university is not direct, but through the high school track. In fact, although any secondary high school gives access to the university, nonetheless lyceums provide students with far higher quality of education than technical and professional schools.

Keywords: "3+2" university reform; intergenerational transfers; social status; human capital; Bologna declaration; AlmaLaurea; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H52 I23 I24 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2011-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hrm, nep-lab and nep-pub
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published - published in: International Journal of Manpower, 2012, 33 (1), 27-50

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