HOW IMPORTANT EDUCATION IS? AN EXPLORATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE DROPOUT PHENOMENON IN EASTERN EUROPE

Early school leaving is a structural problem related to the socioeconomic environment involving aspects of local culture and customs that characterize a country. If not controlled, with the intent of hindering it, this phenomenon can generate unemployment, social exclusion, poverty, health problems...

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Main Authors: Piera CASCIOLI, Emiliano COLANTONIO, Daniel BADULESCU
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: University of Oradea 2023-07-01
Series:Annals of the University of Oradea: Economic Science
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Online Access:https://anale.steconomiceuoradea.ro/en/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/AUOES.July_.20235.pdf
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author Piera CASCIOLI
Emiliano COLANTONIO
Daniel BADULESCU
author_facet Piera CASCIOLI
Emiliano COLANTONIO
Daniel BADULESCU
author_sort Piera CASCIOLI
collection DOAJ
description Early school leaving is a structural problem related to the socioeconomic environment involving aspects of local culture and customs that characterize a country. If not controlled, with the intent of hindering it, this phenomenon can generate unemployment, social exclusion, poverty, health problems and a slowdown in the country’s economic growth. Since education policies are one of the most important concerns of national governments and international organizations, the UN 2030 Agenda, containing the common ambitions of the signatory countries, proposes 17 sustainable development goals and specifically, among these, inclusive and equitable quality education. In some Eastern European countries, the percentage of young people who decide not to continue their studies is really too high, exceeding 10%. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to study the dropout phenomenon in this context. We employ a panel vector autoregressive model in first differences to test complex dynamic relationships between share of the population aged 18 to 24 not involved in any education or training (as a proxy for the dropout phenomenon), GDP per capita (as a proxy for a country’s wealth and industrial modernity), gross domestic expenditure on R&D in higher education (as a proxy for a country’s effort to improve its education system), and share of people reporting crime, violence or vandalism (as a proxy for a country’s social condition). The study concerns 10 Eastern European countries for the period 2000-2021. The results show that the government expenditure in education is negatively related to the dropout rate. Moreover, the increase in the relative number of early school leavers seems to stimulate a worsening in social conditions, with an increase in cases of crime, violence and vandalism. Finally, both an increase in dropouts and a deterioration in social conditions generate negative effects on the well-being of the community and economic growth. Improving the quality of the education system is therefore crucial (this is also confirmed by the variance decomposition analysis), even if it may not be enough: from the impulse response functions analysis, indeed, a shock exerted on the government expenditure on R&D in higher education produces positive effects on the (declining) dropout rate, but only for a short period. Policymakers should therefore make constant efforts to reduce the early school leaving.
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spelling doaj-art-ff61ff31cedc47bcaebab8b426513c582025-08-20T02:28:26ZdeuUniversity of OradeaAnnals of the University of Oradea: Economic Science1222-569X1582-54502023-07-01321728310.47535/1991AUOES32(1)005HOW IMPORTANT EDUCATION IS? AN EXPLORATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE DROPOUT PHENOMENON IN EASTERN EUROPEPiera CASCIOLI0Emiliano COLANTONIO1Daniel BADULESCU2Department of Philosophical, Pedagogical and Economic-Quantitative Sciences, University of Chieti-Pescara, Pescara, ItalyDepartment of Philosophical, Pedagogical and Economic-Quantitative Sciences, University of Chieti-Pescara, Pescara, ItalyDepartment of Economics and Business, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Oradea, Oradea, RomaniaEarly school leaving is a structural problem related to the socioeconomic environment involving aspects of local culture and customs that characterize a country. If not controlled, with the intent of hindering it, this phenomenon can generate unemployment, social exclusion, poverty, health problems and a slowdown in the country’s economic growth. Since education policies are one of the most important concerns of national governments and international organizations, the UN 2030 Agenda, containing the common ambitions of the signatory countries, proposes 17 sustainable development goals and specifically, among these, inclusive and equitable quality education. In some Eastern European countries, the percentage of young people who decide not to continue their studies is really too high, exceeding 10%. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to study the dropout phenomenon in this context. We employ a panel vector autoregressive model in first differences to test complex dynamic relationships between share of the population aged 18 to 24 not involved in any education or training (as a proxy for the dropout phenomenon), GDP per capita (as a proxy for a country’s wealth and industrial modernity), gross domestic expenditure on R&D in higher education (as a proxy for a country’s effort to improve its education system), and share of people reporting crime, violence or vandalism (as a proxy for a country’s social condition). The study concerns 10 Eastern European countries for the period 2000-2021. The results show that the government expenditure in education is negatively related to the dropout rate. Moreover, the increase in the relative number of early school leavers seems to stimulate a worsening in social conditions, with an increase in cases of crime, violence and vandalism. Finally, both an increase in dropouts and a deterioration in social conditions generate negative effects on the well-being of the community and economic growth. Improving the quality of the education system is therefore crucial (this is also confirmed by the variance decomposition analysis), even if it may not be enough: from the impulse response functions analysis, indeed, a shock exerted on the government expenditure on R&D in higher education produces positive effects on the (declining) dropout rate, but only for a short period. Policymakers should therefore make constant efforts to reduce the early school leaving.https://anale.steconomiceuoradea.ro/en/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/AUOES.July_.20235.pdfschool dropoutseducationhuman capitalsocioeconomic development
spellingShingle Piera CASCIOLI
Emiliano COLANTONIO
Daniel BADULESCU
HOW IMPORTANT EDUCATION IS? AN EXPLORATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE DROPOUT PHENOMENON IN EASTERN EUROPE
Annals of the University of Oradea: Economic Science
school dropouts
education
human capital
socioeconomic development
title HOW IMPORTANT EDUCATION IS? AN EXPLORATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE DROPOUT PHENOMENON IN EASTERN EUROPE
title_full HOW IMPORTANT EDUCATION IS? AN EXPLORATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE DROPOUT PHENOMENON IN EASTERN EUROPE
title_fullStr HOW IMPORTANT EDUCATION IS? AN EXPLORATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE DROPOUT PHENOMENON IN EASTERN EUROPE
title_full_unstemmed HOW IMPORTANT EDUCATION IS? AN EXPLORATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE DROPOUT PHENOMENON IN EASTERN EUROPE
title_short HOW IMPORTANT EDUCATION IS? AN EXPLORATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE DROPOUT PHENOMENON IN EASTERN EUROPE
title_sort how important education is an explorative analysis of the dropout phenomenon in eastern europe
topic school dropouts
education
human capital
socioeconomic development
url https://anale.steconomiceuoradea.ro/en/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/AUOES.July_.20235.pdf
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AT danielbadulescu howimportanteducationisanexplorativeanalysisofthedropoutphenomenonineasterneurope