“Great-Gatsby-Map” Shows Regional Differences
The study also documents significant regional differences within Europe. Regions with low educational mobility are also characterised by high educational inequality – a pattern known in the context of income as the “Great-Gatsby-Curve”. The study presents this pattern for the first time in the form of a “Great-Gatsby-Map” for Europe. Educational mobility is particularly low in Southern and Eastern Europe, while Northern and Central Europe tend to show lower inequality both within and between generations. At the same time, however, there are also clear regional differences within individual countries.
The study further shows that the relationship between mobility and innovation is not equally strong everywhere. “Regions with low mobility benefit particularly from improvements. This underlines the importance of targeted economic policy measures to promote equal opportunities in education,” says Patrick Lehnert, Assistant Professor for Personnel Economics at the University of Zurich and Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.