Functional decentralization: the role of education infrastructures in dynamizing peripheral municipalities

Abstract

Abstract Many European countries have focused on redistributing wealth across their territory through the decentralization of public services. This so-called functional decentralization is often carried out through investments in various education infrastructures in order to attract migrants into peripheral regions. However, do education infrastructures actually influence gross migratory patterns? It is not clear whether universities or specialized schools only play a role in a student’s short-term migration or if they also have an effect on the residential migration of households. Nonetheless, it is a key determinant of the potential success of a functional decentralization policy. This study will aim at defending the hypothesis that universities and specialized schools do have an important and positive impact on the gross migration inflows into a particular area. Studying such flows in the French province of Bouches-Du-Rhône, some evidence was found that specialized schools in agriculture have a decisive role in attracting migrants. This implies that the current policies focusing on the decentralization of the university system may not be as effective as the one focusing on specialized education infrastructures.