The economic impact of higher education institutions in Ireland

Abstract

In the context of Ireland, there is scarce evidence of the economic impact of higher education institutions. Building upon previous research that undertakes such an analysis using input output approaches, this chapter contributes to our knowledge in two aspects. On the one hand, it adopts a Keynesian multiplier approach, and thus enables comparisons between the results of the two methods. On the other hand, this chapter allows a closer examination of the role of higher education institutions at the regional level. In line with the existing evidence, this chapter finds that both Irish universities and institutes of technology are a significant economic force in the economy. Also, it is found that there is a negative relationship between the estimated multipliers and the size of institutions measured as total expenditure.