Η υπερεκπαίδευση των πτυχιούχων πανεπιστημίου ως ορθολογική επιλογή: Η περίπτωση τριών ελληνικών πανεπιστημίων

Abstract

 Overeducation of university graduates is considered by many theories as a market phenomenon resulting from market imbalances, market imperfections, and/or job mobility restrictions. Thus, overeducated individuals are often considered as “victims’ of labour market misfunctioning that are not responsible for the appearance of their overeducation. On the other hand, empirical evidence suggests that overeducation (a) affects various sectors of an economy, (b) is rather large, i.e. in EU-28 it is around 30% and (c) is persistent over time for a many countries.In our paper we take a different view and we consider overeducation as a voluntary rational choice taken by individuals when they decide their educational plans by treating education not only as an investment in human capital but also as a consumption good that gives certain psychic benefits to university graduates. This approach may explain that overeducation is not a temporary phenomenon, it will be higher than anticipated by considering education only as investment and it will be persistent over time. Out data set is drawn from a small open economy, Greece, and it is based on graduates of three Universities.