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Do education quality and spillovers matter? Evidence on human capital and productivity in Greece

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  • Benos, Nikos
  • Karagiannis, Stelios

Abstract

This paper estimates production functions for Greek regions over 1971–2011, using census data on educational human capital. We construct rich human capital series, where data for employees are decomposed according to their education level. In addition, we take into account possible effects due to education quality and spillovers. Our evidence shows that human capital has a strong positive association with labor productivity through upper secondary and tertiary education, while primary education exhibits a negative relationship and lower secondary education does not exhibit any association with productivity. Tertiary education spillovers along with a number of education quality indicators present a significant positive relationship with productivity. Overall, findings suggest that policy makers should account for education quality as well as spillovers and direct their efforts toward a more efficient and enhanced education system with emphasis on high education levels to improve labor productivity overall and reduce spatial productivity disparities.

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  • Benos, Nikos & Karagiannis, Stelios, 2016. "Do education quality and spillovers matter? Evidence on human capital and productivity in Greece," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 563-573.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:54:y:2016:i:c:p:563-573
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2016.01.015
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor productivity; Growth; Human capital; Regional data; Panel data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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