Koulutuksen ja tutkimuksen taloudellinen merkitys - vertaileva tutkimus yliopistollisen koulutuksen ja tutkimuksen taloudellisesta merkityksestä seitsemälle alueelle

Abstract

Koulutusta ja tutkimusta pidetään nykypäivän tietoon perustuvassa yhteiskunnassa keskeisessä osassa taloudellista kehitystä. Tieto nähdään panoksena, jota edelleen hyödyntämällä saadaan aikaan taloudellista kasvua. Näkökulma etenkin koulutuksen taloudellisen merkityksen tarkastelussa on perinteisesti ollut yksilötasolla liikkuvaa, laajemman näkökulman jäädessä vähemmälle. Koulutuksen yksilölle tuoma taloudellinen hyöty on tunnustettu pitkään. Tässä tutkimuksessa näkökulmana on aluetaloudet, ja aluetason tutkimukset ovatkin olleet vähäisiä. Useiden, maiden tasoilla, tehtyjen tutkimusten mukaan toisen asteen koulutus on kehitysmaiden taloudellisen kehityksen kannalta merkittävämpää kuin korkea-asteen koulutus. Korkea-asteen koulutuksella on vastaavasti kehittyneissä maissa keskeisempi merkitys.

Aihepiiriin liittyvän kirjallisuuden mukaan yliopistollisen toiminnan aluetaloudellinen merkitys on tiivistetysti seuraavanlainen: 1) yliopistoilla on suora kulutusvaikutus alueelleen, 2) yliopistot kouluttavat työvoimaa ja 3) yliopistot toimivat tietoon perustuvan talouden yhtenä lähteenä. Yliopistoilla on myös imagovaikutus: yliopistot luovat positiivista imagoa ja toimivat vetovoimatekijöinä alueilleen.

Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan yliopistollisen koulutuksen ja tutkimuksen taloudellista merkitystä 1960-luvun jälkeisillä yliopistopaikkakunnilla ja Satakunnassa. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan alueiden innovatiivisuutta ja sosiaalista pääomaa. Tutkimuksen empiirinen aineisto muodostuu useista eri lähteistä hankituista tilastoista (mm. Tilastokeskus, Patentti- ja rekisterihallitus) ja niiden yhdistelmistä. Aineistoa analysoidaan tilastollisin menetelmin.

Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltujen alueiden koulutusvarannot ovat erilaiset. 1960-luvun jälkeisten yliopistopaikkakuntien väestöllä on enemmän koulutusta kuin Satakunnassa. Eri koulutustasoilla on eri alueilla erilainen aluetaloudellinen merkitys. Korkeakoulutuksella on jokaisen alueen talouteen positiivinen merkitys Vaasan ja Porin seutukuntia sekä Satakuntaa lukuun ottamatta. Tutkimustulosten perusteella ei kuitenkaan voi sanoa, että mitä enemmän alueella on koulutusta, sitä parempi on sen taloudellinen kehitys. Alueiden elinkeinorakenteet ovat erilaiset ja ihmiset työskentelevät erilaisissa tehtävissä. Koulutus itsessään ei siis ole ratkaisu taloudellisen kehityksen edistämiseen, vaan se on tiiviisti yhteydessä ympäröivään yhteiskuntaan.

Yliopistoilla on aluetalouteen positiivinen merkitys. Yliopistot tuottavat alueelle työvoimaa ja luovat alueelle kulutuskysyntää. Yliopistot maksavat henkilökunnilleen palkkoja, investoivat erinäisiin toimiin (esim. rakentamiseen) ja tuovat alueelle opiskelijoita, jotka edelleen tuovat kulutuskysyntää alueelle. Yliopistojen taloudelliset vaikutukset ovat sekä välittömiä että välillisiä. Välittömiä ovat edellä mainitut. Välillisiä vaikutuksia ovat vastaavasti mm. myöhemmin syntyvät uudet työpaikat ja yliopistoissa tuotetun tiedon hyödyntäminen. Lisäksi koko korkeakoulusektorin merkitys alueiden tutkimus- ja tuotekehitysmenoihin on valtava (Satakuntaa ja Pohjanmaata lukuun ottamatta). Tutkittavien alueiden yliopistojen osalta voidaan todeta, että suurin osa yliopistojen opiskelijoista rekrytoituu opiskelemaan yliopiston lähialueelta. Jos opiskelijan syntymäalue on sama kuin yliopiston sijaintialue, sitä todennäköisemmin opiskelija myös valmistuttuaan jää alueelle. Muulta opiskelemaan tulleiden muuttoalttius sen sijaan on suurempi; muualta opiskelemaan tulleet opiskelijat näyttävät jatkavan valmistuttuaan erityisesti Uudellemaalle.

Koulutus on tämän tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella kannattava investointi paitsi yksityisen henkilön kannalta myös aluetalouden kannalta. Vaikka muutamalla alueella korkeakoulutuksella ei näyttänyt olevan merkitystä alueiden arvonlisäykseen, se ei silti tarkoita, että alueiden korkeakoulutetuilla ei olisi mitään merkitystä aluetaloudelle. Monet korkeakoulutettujen vaikutukset ovat välillisiä, eikä niitä pysty tarkastelemaan määrällisin mittarein. Tämä tutkimus pyrki osittain vastaamaan aiheen ympärillä vellovaan keskusteluun ja raottamaan edes osittain hankalaa aihetta tuomalla siihen mukaan empiirisen näkökulman.

The study explores the economic function of universities on seven region. The study is comparative: the comparison is made between the university regions (since 1960´s) and the region of Satakunta in Finland. The empirical data for the study contains statistic material, which was gathered from the Altika database (Statistics Finland), enterprise record (Statistics Finland), employment statistics (Statistics Finland), publications of Statistics Finland, web site of Statistics Finland, Kota databases (Ministry of Education), Patent and Record Administration, The Computer Unit of the University of Joensuu and the Finnish Social Science Data Archive (University of Tampere). The study also used statistical year books and annual reports when needed.

The theoretical background for the study arises from the theory of human capital and the endogenous growth theory. The basic assumption for economical growth is that economic growth needs among the physical capital also human capital. Human capital creation is supposed to happen in formal education. The study also examines the theories of regional development. The main focus in the theories of regional development is learning regions and learning economy .

Human capital theory holds education as an investment, which will gain benefit for it s owner. The point of view of the theory is strongly individualistic. The results all over the world show that education increases wages. Secondary level education (i.e. vocational education etc.) has better benefits (rates of return) for it s owner than tertiary level education (university education). The reason for that lies behind the investment costs: secondary level education lasts much shorter time than tertiary level education. Lost of earnings during the education time are bigger in tertiary level education than in secondary level education. But the rate of return calculations holds assumption of perfect markets (including full employment), which is reality rarely. When the risks of unemployment are taken into account, the rates of return for tertiary level education increase dramatically. According to the theory of human capital, people are paid for their efficiency in production. The ones, who are against human capital theory, claim that people are paid for the signalling effect of certain education. Certain education creates images for the employers that the owners of that certain education are more efficient and productive. And according to these opponents of human capital theory, that is the reason why others are better paid. Probably both of them are right. And this is also one of the questions that will be discussed in of this study.

Social capital is not tied into the human being in a same sense that human capital. Social capital relies on the relations between people and trust is the keyword in it. Social capital is a value, which develops when dealing with other people. Social capital has also direct links to values and norms. With trust something else can be achieved than without it. If a person belongs to a specific group, the person also has access to the knowledge of the group. If the person is outside the group, the specific knowledge remains unachieved. The other side of the coin is that social capital can also be used wrongly. For example, criminal organisations have social capital, too. According to the literature, social capital can be measured by calculating the activity of people in taking part to different kind of activities (associations, clubs etc.). The implication is: the more activities, the more social capital. Years of education and the amount of social capital correlate. People with more education seem to have more social capital also. The three levels where social capital can be created are: bonds, bridges and linkages. Bonds are the most significant level of social capital. Bonds form typically between family members. Bridges are built between friends and colleagues. Links will take form between groups etc. Links are like a language skill that helps participants to understand each other.

Social capital has received a lot of criticism. It has been said that it is just a new puzzle developed by social scientists with nothing new in it. But it is a fact that something new has had to be developed, because there has been reduction in participation of different kinds of activities among people. The results of the studies have not been clear. There have been studies (for example Costa & Cahn 2001), that say the rate of participation has not decreased but increased. We have to remember that some of the studies are based on casual sampling surveys, so that might be the reason for different results. For instance, the studies of Putnam are based on facts. They say that the amount of participation has decreased.

Endogenous growth theory suggests that education and research are in the centre of economical growth. The literature is claiming that knowledge is an input and using that input we can gain economical growth. Several studies show that there is a positive correlation between education and economic growth. This study will show that too. According to the recent studies (i.e. Petrakis & Stamakis 2002, Asteriou & Agiomirgianakis 2001) the secondary level education has more significant meaning for economical development in developing countries than the higher education. On contrary, the meaning of higher education is significant in developed (OECD) countries. Social capital and economic development have also positive connection, even if the data used in most of the studies are not trouble-free. The used data has often been insufficient, and comparison between countries is also difficult. Anyhow, trust declines transaction costs. Trust in people and in society is also an incentive for investing.

The reserve of education between the regions in this study varies noteworthy. In those regions, which came university regions (after 1960 s) the population has more education (number of years of education) than in Pori and Rauma regions. The greatest amount of reserve of education is in Pohjois-Savo, and the smallest reserve of education exist in Satakunta and Etelä-Karjala. The findings of this study show that the different level of education of population has a different function for economical development in the regions. One of the reasons for that is that the structure of business life in the regions is different. The second reason, of course, is that people work in different kinds of positions and make different outcomes. Higher education has a positive impact for economic development in every regions, excluding Vaasa, Pori and Satakunta regions. On the other hand, higher education has in Rauma region (the second region of Satakunta in this study) a positive impact of economical development. The results of the study are, however, not unambiguous: it cannot be said that the region with more educated labour force has more advanced economic performance. One problem with the regional data of the present study was that it only contains years 1995-2001. Data for longer period doesn t exist yet. The results of the study could have been different, if the time series for longer period was available.

The results of this study suggest that education is not the whole solution for making better economic performance. Education has strong links to society as a whole. If the case in those regions is like this study suggest (higher education has no positive effect on economic progress), those regions should immediately do actions to use the know-how of higher educated people more efficiently. One of the actions could be to encourage them to academic entrepreneurship. After all, the problem is not this simple. Every action that higher educated people do are not taken into account in regional accounting (GDP). Few of these actions are for example the actions of teachers or medicine doctors. How to take account the health of the employee? Being healthy will definitely effect on economical performance in a long run. Another example could be a teacher. A teacher is not as productive in a same way as a worker with a machine in industry. The worker in industry produces goods that the enterprise will trade and get profit for it. Both employees are needed. Education is on an individual level the best medicine against unemployment; the academic unemployment in a year 2001 was only three percents. At the same time the unemployment rate for secondary level education was 9,7 percents and for primary education 13,5 percents.

Universities do have positive impact on regional economics. The economic impacts of universities are direct and indirect. Universities provide labour force to the region and create consumption demand for the region. Universities are paying for their employees, make investments (for example construction) and bring students to the regions. Students, in turn, create more consumption demand for the regions. The economic impacts of universities are direct and indirect. Indirect impacts are for example new jobs and the knowledge produced in the universities that can be used in the region. The meaning of the whole university sector in a point of view of research funding for the regions is enormous (excluding Satakunta and Pohjanmaa). This study also suggests that most of the university students in the studied regions originate from the same region where the university exists. If the student s origin region is the same as the university s region, it is more probably that the student will occupy to that region after graduated. If the student s origin region is differ than the university s region, then it would be more likely that the student will occupy after graduation especially to Uusimaa.

According to literature knowledge and learning are important in creating innovations. Universities play central role in learning regions and learning economy. The most common metre for describing innovations is patent applications sent from the regions. That was the case in this study also. One could expect that a region with university in it, would be more innovative than the regions without university. This study backs up this assumption only partly. The study did find a positive correlation between the years of education and patent applications sent from the regions. From Rauma region more patent applications per capita were sent between years 1975-2002 than from any other region. But in Rauma region there is less education than in any other region. Rauma has had the teacher education institute for a long time. The patent applications sent from Rauma region are more likely patent applications of industry. Therefore it is hard do find a connection between the teacher education institute and industry, at least concerning these patent applications. It is more probability that the industry in Rauma region is doing it s own research and is developing new innovations. Most less patent applications per capita has been sent between the years 1975-2002 from Vaasa region. On province level, between the years 1975-2002, most patent applications per capita was sent from Satakunta and least from Lappi. Between the shorter period (1995-2001) most patent applications per capita were sent from Pohjois-Karjala and Pohjois-Savo. Least again from Lappi. Pohjois-Savo and Pohjois-Karjala seem to have been more innovative in recent years than Satakunta. The innovativeness of Satakunta has declined since 1970s . This is partly because the industry in Satakunta region has also decreased. Most of the patent applications are probably from industry. It is impossible to study with the used data set which patent applications are related to universities. But the actions of TTKK started in Satakunta only in 1983. The industry, especially in Satakunta, has had and still has it s own research units. Regarding to the patent applications sent from studied regions, the most innovative region is Rauma. On the province level the most innovative region is Satakunta. Innovativeness and economic performance do not go hand in hand, even if Rauma region had between the years 1995-2001 the highest GDP per employed labour capita.

The study also investigated social capital. According to the literature, social capital is assumed to have positive effect on economical development. By the data sets from Finnish Social Science Data Archive (University of Tampere) a regional level analysis was able to be done. The data suggest that there are no significant differences between regions. One of the data sets (ISS) show, however, that the occupants in Satakunta are not as keen on taking part in organisational activities than in other regions. In Satakunta the taking part percent was 45,3 when on the other regions it was 60. But Satakunta has not the weakest economic performance measured by regional GDP. The implication is therefore that the relation between social capital and economic performance does not occur at least directly. But the years of education and the amount of social capital have strong correlation; applicants (aggregate for whole regions) with more education have more social capital. It is reasonable to believe that education increases social capital than opposite. Social capital also increases when getting older, even if some people have better possibilities to get in networks even beginning of the early years (old families with lot of connections). The amount of social capital seems to be on a higher level in Scandinavia than in other countries. Social capital declines transaction costs, because people have more trust against each other. In this sense social capital has also positive impact for economic performance.

This study suggests that education is a worthwhile investment for single person and for regional economy as well. Although for some regions higher educated people seem to have no positive effect for regional GDP, it doesn t mean that the higher educated people are totally useless for those regions. That is because many of the effects of higher educated people are indirect. And those indirect implications cannot be measured. Finland seems to be very homogenous country, because (at least for the regions in this study) the differences between regions are small. In this point of view one can say that the regional policy on state level has been successful. The aim has been to a make democratic society, and it seems that the aim has been reached at least concerning the regions in this study. This study tried to answer even partly for the discussion held around the economics of education and regional development bringing an empirical point of view in it.