[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/afc/cliome/v8y2014i3p271-300.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Educational and income inequality in Europe, ca. 1870–2000

Author

Listed:
  • Péter Földvári

    (Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands)

  • Bas van Leeuwen

    (Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands)

Abstract
In this paper, we revisit the relationship between educational and income inequalities in a historical perspective, using a newly developed annual dataset of average years of education in Europe. Theoretically one would expect a reduction in educational inequality should, given the positive correlation between education level and income, initially increase and then, at a later stage, reduce income inequality. Testing for such a Kuznets-type relationship between educational and income inequalities yields an unexpected result: we find the expected inverse U-curve before the 1950s, but the relationship changes into a normal U-curve afterward. We explain this observation by a change in the trend of skill premium during the second half of the twentieth century due to an increased relative demand for skills, which contradicts the usual assumption of decreasing returns to education. Due to lack of appropriate wage data, we cannot directly capture this effect. Yet, once we use an instrumental variable estimation method to filter out the effect of the omitted skill premium, the expected inverse U-curve also appears for the latter decades of the twentieth century.

Suggested Citation

  • Péter Földvári & Bas van Leeuwen, 2014. "Educational and income inequality in Europe, ca. 1870–2000," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 8(3), pages 271-300, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:afc:cliome:v:8:y:2014:i:3:p:271-300
    DOI: 10.1007/s11698-013-0105-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11698-013-0105-3
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to journal subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11698-013-0105-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Prados de la Escosura, Leandro & Rosés, Joan R., 2010. "Human capital and economic growth in Spain, 1850-2000," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 520-532, October.
    2. James Leigland & Rosalind Thomas, 1999. "Editorial," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 1-4.
    3. Miguel Portela & Rob Alessie & Coen Teulings, 2010. "Measurement Error in Education and Growth Regressions," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 112(3), pages 618-639, September.
    4. Wood, Adrian, 1997. "Openness and Wage Inequality in Developing Countries: The Latin American Challenge to East Asian Conventional Wisdom," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 11(1), pages 33-57, January.
    5. Adrian Wood, 1997. "How Trade Hurt Unskilled Workers," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Jitendralal Borkakoti & Chris Milner (ed.), International Trade and Labour Markets, chapter 7, pages 140-168, Palgrave Macmillan.
    6. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Howard J. Shatz, 1994. "Trade and Jobs in Manufacturing," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 25(1), pages 1-84.
    7. Aurora A. C. Teixeira, 2004. "Measuring aggregate human capital in Portugal. An update up to 2001," FEP Working Papers 152, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    8. Van Leeuwen, Bas & van Leeuwen-Li, Jieli & Foldvari, Peter, 2012. "Education as a driver of income inequality in twentieth-century Africa," MPRA Paper 43574, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    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. Prados de la Escosura, Leandro, 2019. "Human Development in the Age of Globalisation," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 421, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    2. Lee, Jong-Wha & Lee, Hanol, 2016. "Human capital in the long run," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 147-169.
    3. Wail BENAABDELAALI & Maurice CATIN, 2018. "Les inégalités d’éducation : une nouvelle base mondiale (1950-2015)," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 47, pages 97-124.
    4. Yousef Makhlouf & Christopher Lalley, 2023. "Education Expansion, Income Inequality and Structural Transformation: Evidence From OECD Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 255-281, September.
    5. Patrinos, Harry Anthony & Rivera-Olvera, Angelica, 2023. "The Impact of the Transition and EU Membership on the Returns to Schooling in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 16326, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    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. Hoekman & Bernard & Winters, L. Alan, 2005. "Trade and employment : stylized facts and research findings," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3676, The World Bank.
    2. Suryahadi, A. & Chen, P. & Tyers, R., 1999. "Openness, Technological Change and Labor Demand in Pre-Crisis Indonesia," Papers 377, Australian National University - Department of Economics.
    3. Esquivel, Gerardo & Rodriguez-Lopez, Jose Antonio, 2003. "Technology, trade, and wage inequality in Mexico before and after NAFTA," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 543-565, December.
    4. Chaudhuri, Sarbajit, 2004. "International Migration of Skilled and Unskilled Labour, Welfare and Skilled-unskilled Wage Inequality: a Simple Model," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 19, pages 726-741.
    5. Accetturo, Antonio & Bugamelli, Matteo & Lamorgese, Andrea R., 2013. "Skill upgrading and exports," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(3), pages 417-420.
    6. Ernst, Christoph. & Peters, Ralf., 2012. "Employment dimension of trade liberalization with China : analysis of the case of Indonesia with dynamic social accounting matrix," ILO Working Papers 994681553402676, International Labour Organization.
    7. Jonathan E. Haskel, 2000. "Trade and Labor Approaches to Wage Inequality," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(3), pages 397-408, August.
    8. Antonio Avalos & Andreas Savvides, 2006. "The Manufacturing Wage Inequality in Latin America and East Asia: Openness, Technology Transfer, and Labor Supply," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(4), pages 553-576, November.
    9. Attanasio, Orazio & Goldberg, Pinelopi K. & Pavcnik, Nina, 2004. "Trade reforms and wage inequality in Colombia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 331-366, August.
    10. Galiani, Sebastian & Sanguinetti, Pablo, 2003. "The impact of trade liberalization on wage inequality: evidence from Argentina," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 497-513, December.
    11. Thomas Gries & Stefan Jungblut & Tim Krieger & Henning Meyer, 2019. "Economic Retirement Age and Lifelong Learning: A Theoretical Model With Heterogeneous Labor, Biased Technical Change and International Sourcing," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 20(2), pages 129-170, May.
    12. Kevin Sylwester, 2003. "Changes in income inequality and the black market premium," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 403-413.
    13. Jorge Saba Arbache, 2001. "Trade Liberalisation and Labor Markets in Developing Countries: Theory and Evidence," Studies in Economics 0112, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    14. JW Fedderke & Martine Mariotti, 2002. "Changing Labour Market Conditions In South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 70(5), pages 830-864, June.
    15. Lars Calmfors & Giancarlo Corsetti & Michael P. Devereux & Gilles Saint-Paul & Hans-Werner Sinn & Jan-Egbert Sturm & Xavier Vives, 2008. "Chapter 3: The effect of globalisation on Western European jobs: curse or blessing?," EEAG Report on the European Economy, CESifo, vol. 0, pages 71-104, February.
    16. Olivier Cortes & Sébastien Jean, 1997. "Les échanges internationaux modifient la demande de travail," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 301(1), pages 45-50.
    17. Daniel Traca & Pushan Dutt, 2005. "Trade and the skill-bias: it's not how much, but with whom you trade," Working Papers CEB 05-010.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    18. Kien Trung Nguyen, 2014. "The impact of trade and investment liberalization on the wage skill premium: evidence from Vietnam," Departmental Working Papers 2014-20, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    19. Patrick Belser, 1998. "¿Depende el desempleo en América Latina y el Caribe de las normas laborales de Asia?," Research Department Publications 4133, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    20. van Neuss, Leif, 2018. "Globalization and deindustrialization in advanced countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 49-63.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Average years of education; Economic development; Inequality Kuznets-curve;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative

    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:afc:cliome:v:8:y:2014:i:3:p:271-300. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/afcccea.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.