Student and worker mobility under university and government competition

Matthieu Delpierre and Bertrand Verheyden

Journal of Public Economics, 2014, vol. 110, issue C, 26-41

Abstract: We provide a normative analysis of endogenous student and worker mobility in the presence of diverging interests between universities and governments. Student mobility generates a university competition effect which induces them to overinvest in education, whereas worker mobility generates a free-rider effect for governments, who are not willing to subsidize the education of agents who will work abroad. At equilibrium, the free-rider effect always dominates the competition effect, resulting in underinvestment in human capital. This inefficiency can be corrected under exogenous university budgets if a transnational transfer for mobile students is implemented. With endogenous income taxation, under the non-cooperative equilibrium between governments, the combination of the free-rider effect and fiscal competition leads to underinvestment in both teaching and research. Furthermore, the transnational transfer no longer restores efficiency. Instead, it can reinforce fiscal competition and imposes a tradeoff between research and human capital.

Keywords: Student mobility; Worker mobility; University competition; Government competition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Working Paper: Student and Worker Mobility under University and Government Competition (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:110:y:2014:i:c:p:26-41

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2013.11.012

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