Transfer investment on education on a free cost basis: Some evidence from Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy

Abstract

For decades, education has been viewed as an instrument for social mobility and also as a tool for economic growth and social development. Over the recent years, we have witnessed an output movement of highly qualified graduates, from peripheral southern Europe to the more developed countries of the EU and OECD. In this article, we analyse the reality of four countries: Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy. In order to examine the socio-economic impact of this brain drain, it will be introduced an estimation using OECD statistics (2014) of the public and private costs to educate a student from primary schooling through a higher education degree. In spite of the differences among these countries' experiences, there is no doubt that these countries "offered" high qualified workers for free or at a zero cost basis to the "importing" countries.