Spatial Distribution of Education and Regional Inequalities in Turkey

Abstract

Education as a major human capital determinant of the modern growth models also enters the realm of spatial analysis. Yet, studies investigating the role of spatial distribution of education on income inequalities are rare. Originating from this central discussion, the study aims to understand the spatial dimensions of education in Turkey as a first step to link educational disparities with regional income inequalities. The regional disaggregated education data for Turkey is evaluated from two perspectives; inequality and spatial dependency. Results remark that education indicators witnessed diverse inequality paths for between and within regional inequalities. Moreover spatial dependency of education is detected for primary and secondary education. However the dependency is found to be strong in the educationally and economically lagging regions of Turkey