A State-Level Analysis of Mexican Education and Its Impact on Regional, Economic, and Social Development: Two-Stage Network DEA Approach

Education has been considered a cornerstone for human and economic development. Although there is a national educational strategy in most countries, various implementations are at the state level. This paper studies academic efficiency at the primary and secondary levels and the human development dimensions –long and healthy life, being knowledgeable, and enjoying a decent standard of life– at the state level. For this purpose, a network data envelopment analysis (NDEA) with two stages was proposed. The first stage studies the educational process efficiency, while the second evaluates its impact in the form of the human development index. The study found significant differences between the evaluated states in the education stage, where the lowest efficiencies are mainly in the southwest of Mexico. The results also indicate that better education quality leads to greater regional, economic, and social development at the state level. This study contributes to the NDEA applications on the understanding of the impact that education has in improving the development of the regions holistically.