A study examined the value of adult learning. It said that adult learning could boost people's life satisfaction in the same way as a £750 per year pay rise. Adult learners also had better health, were less likely to be depressed, and visited their family doctor less regularly.
Source: Paul Dolan and Daniel Fujiwara, Valuing Adult Learning: Comparing wellbeing valuation to contingent valuation, Research Report 85, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report | NIACE press release | WEA press release
Date: 2012-Nov
An article examined levels of over-education and wage returns to education for males across 11 regions of the United Kingdom using Labour Force Survey data. Significant differences were found in the probability of being over-educated across regions. Differences were also found in the return to the 'correct' level of education in each region, in each case associated with flexibility of movement between and into particular regions, which determined the ease of job matching. There existed a premium to the 'correct' level of education, which varied across regions.
Source: Pamela Lenton, 'Over-education across British regions', Regional Studies, Volume 46 Number 9
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Sep
A paper examined the role that educational improvements were expected to play as a driver of future income convergence in Europe.
Source: Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, Miroslava Havettova, and Martin Labaj, Income Convergence Prospects in Europe: Assessing the role of human capital dynamics, Working Paper 143, Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Jul
A report examined the relationship between education and well-being. It said that higher levels of qualifications and continued formal and informal learning were associated with greater individual subjective well-being.
Source: Measuring National Well-being – Education and Skills, Office for National Statistics
Links: Report | ONS press release | ATL press release | RSS press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Jul
A paper presented new evidence on the causal impact of education on crime, by considering the expansion of post-compulsory education in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At the same time as the education expansion, youth crime had fallen, revealing a significant cross-cohort relationship. The causal crime-reducing effect of education was estimated to be negative and significant, and considerably bigger in (absolute) magnitude than ordinary least squares estimates. The education boost also significantly affected other productivity-related economic variables (qualification attainment and wages), demonstrating that the incapacitation effect of additional time spent in school was not the sole driver of the results.
Source: Stephen Machin, Olivier Marie, and Suncica Vujic, Youth Crime and Education Expansion, Discussion Paper 6582, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Jun
A study found that putting an individual through A-levels and university generated a £227,000 net gain for the economy.
Source: Clare McNeil and Amna Silim, Further Higher? Tertiary education and growth in the UK's new economy, University and College Union
Links: Report | UCU press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Jun
A paper examined the effects of education on the income, self-reported health, and survival of people aged 65 and over. For men, income after the age of 65 was significantly influenced by educational attainment and had a significant effect on survival. Even after controlling for circumstances at age 65 or when first observed, there were benefits totalling £170,000 for men with higher education qualifications as compared with those with minimal qualifications. However, similar effects were not observed for women.
Source: Silvia Lui and Martin Weale, Education and Its Effects on Survival, Income and Health of Those Aged Sixty-Five and Over in the United Kingdom, Discussion Paper 393, National Institute for Economic and Social Research
Links: Discussion paper | NIESR press release
Date: 2012-May
An article examined the association between education and levels of trust and tolerance in Europe. The association varied significantly across countries, and a major source of this variation lay in the way in which individuals reacted to the level of diversity in the country where they lived.
Source: Francesca Borgonovi, 'The relationship between education and levels of trust and tolerance in Europe', British Journal of Sociology, Volume 63 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Mar
A paper used data from 19 compulsory schooling reforms implemented in Europe during the twentieth century to quantify the mean mortality effect and explore its dispersion across gender, time, and countries. Men benefited from compulsory education both in the shorter and longer run: in contrast, compulsory schooling reforms had little or no effect on mortality for women.
Source: Christina Gathmann, Hendrik Jurges, and Steffen Reinhold, Compulsory Schooling Reforms, Education and Mortality in Twentieth Century Europe, Discussion Paper 6403, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Mar
A paper examined the effects of education on the income, self-reported health, and survival of people aged 65 and over. Well educated people enjoyed substantially higher incomes and longer healthy lives: but estimates of the magnitude of these benefits were sharply reduced if mortality rates generated using British Household Panel Survey data were required to be consistent with aggregate official data.
Source: Silvia Lui and Martin Weale, Education and its effects on the income, health and survival of those aged sixty-five and over, Discussion Paper 383, National Institute for Economic and Social Research
Links: Discussion paper
Date: 2012-Feb
A paper examined returns to educational qualifications in the presence of misreporting. It provided estimates for the United Kingdom of the return from attaining any academic qualification compared with leaving school at the minimum age without any formal qualification. It also provided estimates of the accuracy and misclassification patterns of commonly used types of data on educational attainment. Finally, it assessed how the biases from measurement error and from omitted ability and family background variables interacted in the estimation of returns.
Source: Erich Battistin, Michele De Nadai, and Barbara Sianesi, Misreported Schooling, Multiple Measures and Returns to Educational Qualifications, Discussion Paper 6337, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Feb
An article used estimates of the effect of educational achievement on economic growth to simulate the impact of improved achievement for individual European Union countries and the EU as a whole. The gains from educational reforms added up to 'astounding' amounts on the three considered reform scenarios. EU policies aimed at school attainment goals were misplaced without assurances that student achievement also improved. Economic cohesion within the EU appeared to be highly dependent on fostering more equality in achievement across countries.
Source: Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann, 'The economic benefit of educational reform in the European Union', CESifo Economic Studies, Volume 58 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
