Details
- Publication date
- 1 September 2011
- Authors
- Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture | European Expert Network on Economics of Education (EENEE)
- Geographical scope
- European Union
- Level of education focus
- Adult education
- Higher education
- School education
- Thematic areas covered
- Educational attainment and participation in education
- Educational effectiveness and efficiency
- Governance of education
- Investment in education, economic impact of education
- Lifelong learning
- Monitoring and quality assurance
- Skills development
- Teachers and trainers
- Whole-school and whole-system approaches and partnerships in education
Description
This report reviews empirical evidence on funding mechanisms across all stages of education and training in Europe. It explores centralized versus decentralized finance, tuition fees, student aid, and incentives for adult learners.
The authors find that centralized funding ensures more equitable education spending, while decentralized models may promote efficiency through local accountability. Higher education remains heavily subsidized despite clear private returns, with mixed evidence on the effectiveness of subsidies versus loans.
For adult education, tax deductions appear more effective than vouchers or subsidies in increasing participation. Evidence from randomized trials indicates that some interventions—like Individual Learning Accounts—often replace private spending, showing limited additional impact.
The study calls for tailored, evidence-based funding models to support efficient, equitable lifelong learning systems.
Authors
Torberg Falch and Hessel Oosterbeek
Cite as
Falch, T., Oosterbeek, H. (2012), Inefficiencies in Subsidising Training of Employees, EENEE Policy Briefing no. 2/2012.
