Socio-economic mobility in Greece and the role of education

The aim of this study is to investigate the social mobility in Greece over time (going back in the past as far as reliable data sources allow) and to what extent different approaches of social mobility were affected by education. The major research questions are to examine the data of income, occupation and education in Greece in order to measure the social mobility during a long-run period and the impact of the recent financial crisis. In addition, there is intention to explore whether social mobility follows specific patterns with these dimensions and determine the barriers to social mobility as well as the significance of educational background (establish a causal relationship between the indicators and education) Finally, to draw useful conclusions that can be used for policymakers to increase social mobility, in particular by understanding the role of education correctly (the policy responses in education to tackle social mobility’s challenges). The thesis is divided in three chapters. Each subchapter tries to answer additional research questions that occurred by each dimension and existing research/literature. The proposed research methodology involves secondary data analysis (descriptive and inferential statistics), microdata analysis with econometric methods, quantitative investigation through a questionnaire survey. To our knowledge, very limited empirical research has been carried out regarding all the aspects of social mobility in Greece. This is the main contribution of this thesis.