Impact of ICT and Globalization on Educational Attainment: Evidence from the New EU Member States

Gamze Sart,Yilmaz Bayar,Marius Dan Gavriletea,Adrian-Gabriel Corpădean

doi:10.3390/su14053039

Gamze Sart, Yilmaz Bayar + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su14053039

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Abstract

Education is a critical factor underlying the social and economic development of countries and their citizens. Therefore, the specification of factors affecting educational attainment is crucial for the planning and implementation of optimal educational policies. The objective of the article is to research the influence of information and communication technology (ICT), proxied by the ICT index and globalization index on educational attainment in the new EU Member States over the term of 2000–2018 by means of the causality and cointegration test. The causality test points out a unilateral causality from ICT to educational attainment and a bidirectional causality between ICT and globalization. In other words, ICT has a significant effect on educational attainment, but globalization influences educational attainment by way of ICT in the short term. On the other hand, the cointegration test uncovers a positive effect of ICT on educational attainment at panel level and in Croatia, Czechia, Poland, and Slovakia in the long term, while globalization has a positive effect on educational attainment in Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland. The findings of the cointegration test also support those of the causality test and denote that both ICT and globalization can be effective instruments for improving educational attainment, depending on countries’ current human and physical capital and education policies.

Highlights

Educational attainment is a key factor for the economic, social, cultural, and institutional development of countries, and is important at individual level by facilitating access to stable employment and higher paying occupations, being considered the surest path to overall wellbeing
The main objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of information and communication technology (ICT) and globalization on educational attainment in the sample of new EU Member States, because these states experienced an institutional, social and economic transformation, integrated with the world, and implemented institutional and economic reforms to meet the criteria for EU
In the applied part of the article, cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity among the series of ICT, globalization, and educational attainment were firstly explored for the specification of unit root, causality, and cointegration tests

Summary

Introduction

Educational attainment is a key factor for the economic, social, cultural, and institutional development of countries, and is important at individual level by facilitating access to stable employment and higher paying occupations, being considered the surest path to overall wellbeing. “quality education” was determined as one of the sustainable development goals [2] and is closely related to all other sustainable development goals. It is critical for the implementation of such goals, because education is a main input of human capital, human development, environmental awareness, innovation, and technological development. Education has an important place in the current and future economic and social status of all countries and their citizens.

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