Higher education and economic growth in France since the Second World War

Abstract

In the past century, education was no longer an area isolated from the rest of the economy but something more important. The evolution of higher education in France reveals that the recent period was a turning point in the history of education. Indeed, the number of bachelor's degrees increased in an unprecedented growth in the past thirty and especially the past ten years. Although this increase was mainly the result of social demand, educational policy has been strongly guided by the fact that the development of higher education has a beneficial effect on the economy. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, higher Education and the dissemination of knowledge depended essentially on the universities. It would therefore seem interesting to address the issue of the links between higher education and economic growth because the real direction of these ones remain undetermined. Cliometric tools are used here to shed light on the relationship between higher education and economic growth in France after the Second World War. The evolution of the education standard and its link with the growth process were examined quantitatively in order to verify the fore a causality relationship. Two approaches were used: an approach with diploma, a socio-economic approach. The results of the analysis using original statistics for France show a high correlation between education and economic success. * Address all communications to Magali Jaoul, LAMETA, Universite Montpellier I, Faculte des Sciences Economiques, Espace Richter, Avenue de la Mer, B.P. 9606, 34054 Montpellier Cedex 1, France. E-mail: m.jaoul@lameta.univ-montp1.fr. This article falls within the scope of a CNRS action (Aid for New Project), directed by Claude DIEBOLT, and entitled “Analyse cliometrique de la relation education-croissance en Europe aux 19eme et 20eme siecles”.