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Does graduate human capital production increase local economic development? An instrumental variable approach

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  • Adalgiso Amendola
  • Cristian Barra
  • Roberto Zotti

Abstract

Using a survey on Italian graduates, we investigate whether universities' degree production affects the economic development of the regions where academic institutions are located. To deal with suspected endogeneity between human capital development and economic growth, we employ an instrumental variable approach, using a global lump sum transferred to each university as an instrument for human capital production. Once we control for the regional flow of mobile students and graduates, the findings reveal the beneficial effect of the university system on local economic development through the gain in human capital.

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  • Adalgiso Amendola & Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2020. "Does graduate human capital production increase local economic development? An instrumental variable approach," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(5), pages 959-994, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jregsc:v:60:y:2020:i:5:p:959-994
    DOI: 10.1111/jors.12490
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    2. Amendola, Adalgiso & Barra, Cristian & Zotti, Roberto, 2020. "Human Capital, Good Government and Economic Development: Evidence from Italian Provinces," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202023, University of Turin.
    3. Jinqi Chen & Lingying Pan, 2024. "Impact of the Coupling Coordination Degree of Human Capital and Infrastructure on High-Quality Economic Development: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-24, October.
    4. Bertoletti, Alice & Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina & Agasisti, Tommaso, 2022. "Higher education systems and regional economic development in Europe: A combined approach using econometric and machine learning methods," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PA).
    5. Robert Calvert Jump & Adam Scavette, 2024. "Do Research Universities Recession Proof Their Regions? Evidence from State Flagship College Towns," Working Paper 24-05, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

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