Higher education, regional growth and cohesion: insights from the Spanish case

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this paper we study the link between regional economic growth and higher education development in a macroeconomic regression for a panel of Spanish regions between 1985 and 2016. The regional economic growth is measured as gross domestic product growth per capita, whereas higher education development is calculated by the growth rate of the total enrolments. We find that higher education growth has a positive impact on the regional macroeconomic growth. As this effect is more intense in less wealthy regions, we may conclude that higher education plays a positive role in regional economic and social cohesion.