The Impact Of Education Level On Some Aspects Of Wellbeing

Abstract

This research studies the influence/effect of the education level on various aspects of human wellbeing. From the official statistics of the OECD countries, we conclude that a number of important characteristics of wellbeing (level of interpersonal trust, subjective health assessments, confidence in the government) have a steady tendency to increase in practically all the analyzed countries as the level of education increases among employable citizens (25-64 years). In this paper, we identify the countries, in which various aspects of citizens’ wellbeing have been found to reach minimum and maximum values. This analysis accounts for the education levels in accordance with the international description: below upper secondary, upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary, and tertiary. The estimated influence of the education level on various aspects of wellbeing appear to be a very promising direction of research for Russia: a country with a traditionally high level of education (of the population). Unfortunately, it is impossible to make a comparative analysis of the impact of education level of the population in Russia on certain wellbeing parameters using the data given in the collected volume Education at a Glance. OECD Indicators 2014. Russia has not joined this group of countries yet. However, the problem of measuring the relationship between the education level of the population and the subjective perception of wellbeing is very important for Russia. In particular, this stems/results from the need to develop a reliable system of indexes that would allow specialists to assess the continuous (lifelong) wellbeing as objectively as possible.

Keywords: EducationWellbeingInterpersonal TrustHealth StatusConfidence to Government

Introduction

In the collected volume Education at a Glance. OECD Indicators (OECD, 2014) the large-scale statistical data-making conclusion about the impact of the education level of citizens in different countries on the most important aspects of wellbeing are shown. It presents the results of surveys characterizing the assessment of the level of interpersonal trust and confidence in the government and subjective assessment of positive health made by the citizens of different countries. The surveys conducted among the respondents of the age from 25 to 64 years with different education levels. The main conclusions based on the analysis of international statistics are the following.

Problem Statement

International studies pay special attention to the assessment of education level impact on income, the success of a person in society and other determinants of individual and social life (Conti, Heckman & Urzúa, 2010; Heckman et al., 2014, 2016).

The influence of the growth in the level of education on subjective assessments of various aspects of human wellbeing (including the level of interpersonal trust, subjective assessments of health state, confidence in the government), has been researched less(How’s Life?, 2013; OECD Skills Outlook, 2013

Research Questions

The most important issue was the identification of those countries in which the level of interpersonal trust, the subjective assessments of the health state and confidence in the government (as important indicators of the individual wellbeing) amounted to the maximum and minimum values ​​for different education levels.

Purpose of the Study

The research problem was to determine the sustainability of the impact of increasing the education level on the subjective assessment by citizens of different OECD countries in important aspects of human wellbeing: the level of interpersonal trust, subjective assessments of health and confidence in the government

Research Methods

The analyzed sample of OECD countries consisted of 22 states in which each of the parameters considered (the level of interpersonal trust, subjective health assessments and the level of confidence in the government) ranges from the minimum to the maximum for each of the three education levels accordingly international statistics: low level - below upper secondary, secondary level - upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary, higher education - tertiary.

Findings

Conclusion

Therefore, having considered the international statistics, we can conclude that for OECD countries as a whole the increasing of manifestation rate for each of wellbeing factors (interpersonal trust, positive subjective assessment of health status and confidence in the government) is observed along with increasing of education level of the respondents.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to make a comparative analysis of the impact of education level of the population in Russia on certain wellbeing parameters using data given in the collected volume Education at a Glance. OECD Indicators 2014 . Russia has not joined this group of countries yet. However, the problem of measuring the relationship between the education level of the population and the subjective perception of wellbeing is very important for Russia. In particular, this is due to the necessity of the development a reliable system of indexes, allowing objectively as much as possible assess the continuous (lifelong) wellbeing.

Acknowledgments

The study supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and performed using the facilities of the Tomsk Polytechnic University, within the research framework in Assessment and Improvement of the Social, Economic and Emotional Well-Being of Older People, Contract No. 14.Z50.31.0029.

References

• Education at a Glance 2014. OECD Indicators .(2014). OECD Publishing.Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2014-en
• Conti, G., Heckman, J., andUrzúa, S. (2010). The Education-Health Gradient.American Economic Review,100(2): 234-38. doi: 10.1257/aer.100.2.234
• Heckman, J., Humphries, J., G. Veramendi, G., Urza, S. (2014). Education, health and wages. NBER Working Paper, No. 19971. National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from http://ftp.iza.org/dp8027.pdf
• Heckman, J., Humphries, J., Veramendi, G. (2016). Dynamic treatment effects. Journal of Econometrics. Elsevier,191(2), 276-292.Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304407615002778
• How’s Life?Measuring Well-being. (2013). OECD Publishing. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264201392-en
• OECD Skills Outlook. (2013). First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, OECD Publishing, Paris.Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264204256-en.