Economic Freedom and People’s Regard for Education

Abstract

Using data on 48 countries, this paper finds that people in economically freer countries care more about education. This is probably mainly because economic freedom enables them and their children to achieve higher returns to education. The magnitude of the estimated effect is substantial. The paper combines individual-level data from the World Values Survey with country-level data on economic freedom and other relevant factors. It controls for all relevant characteristics of survey respondents as well as for potentially confounding country-level characteristics. It also addresses potential endogeneity of economic freedom.

Impact of Economic Freedom and Educational Attainment on Life Expectancy: Evidence From the New EU Member States

“…The economic freedom is expected to influence the life expectancy through economic growth and development based on country specific characteristics, economic freedom can foster the life expectancy by procuring higher levels of healthcare, medical care, better access to nourishment and clean water, environmental quality, and raising the educational awareness of the individuals if the improvements in economic growth and development are accompanied by economic freedom ( 27 ). Otherwise, economic growth with weak institutional quality can negatively influence the life expectancy through higher income and education inequality and lower environmental quality ( 19 ).…”

“…Lutz and Kebede ( 26 ) investigated the relationship between education proxied by average schooling years of the adults and life expectancy and their results suggest that the education level is a better predictor of life expectancy than the other factors. Furthermore, economic freedom can influence life expectancy via educational attainment, because individuals from countries with higher economic freedom generally give more importance to educational attainment ( 27 ).…”

Does economic freedom foster education in Sub‐Saharan Africa?

“…For instance, the effect of democracy on education (Dahlum & Knutsen, 2017;Eterovic & Sweet, 2014) or the effect of the rule of law on educational choices (Nifo et al, 2017). Furthermore, the literature argues that the effect of institutional quality on human capital formation, through education, can be enhanced by increasing the level of economic freedom (Aixalá & Fabro, 2009;Dawson, 1998;Feldmann, 2017Feldmann, , 2021King et al, 2012).…”

“…To begin, in addition to the economic freedom index, we consider its five dimensions. Alternatively, Feldmann (2017Feldmann ( , 2021 did not consider the effect of these components to examine how they affect education in different ways. Economic freedom is a multidimensional concept that is measured by various institutional and economic policy components.…”

Economic Freedom and Educational Attainment: Evidence From New Eu Member States

“…government sector size, legal structure and property rights, sound money, international trade freedom, and regulations allow the economies to operate more efficiently, become more competitive, and produce better economic performance and in turn raise the returns to education (Feldmann, 2021). The positive effect of economic freedom on economic growth has been affirmed by a wide range of researchers such as Taş and Ulusoy (2021), Kabir and Alam (2021), Brkić et al (2020), Doucouliagos and Ulubasoglu (2006).…”