American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Democracy and Foreign Education
American Economic Review
vol. 99,
no. 1, March 2009
(pp. 528–43)
Abstract
Despite the large amount of private and public resources spent on foreign education, there is no systematic evidence that foreign-educated individuals foster democracy in their home countries. Using a unique panel dataset on foreign students starting in the 1950s, I show that foreign-educated individuals promote democracy in their home country, but only if the foreign education is acquired in democratic countries. The results are robust to several estimation techniques, to different definitions of democracy, and to the inclusion of a variety of control variables, including democracy in trading partners, neighboring countries, level of income, and level and stock of education. (JEL D72, I21, O15, O17, P26)Citation
Spilimbergo, Antonio. 2009. "Democracy and Foreign Education." American Economic Review, 99 (1): 528–43. DOI: 10.1257/aer.99.1.528Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D72 Models of Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- I21 Analysis of Education
- O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
- O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements