IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mes/eaeuec/v56y2018i6p541-563.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Human Capital and International Competitiveness in Europe, with Special Reference to Transition Economies

Author

Listed:
  • Arta Mulliqi
  • Nick Adnett
  • Mehtap Hisarciklilar
  • Artane Rizvanolli

Abstract

This article assesses the impact of human capital endowments on international competitiveness in Europe, with special reference to transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The analysis uses longitudinal data for twenty-seven European economies over the period 1995–2010. In line with orthodox theory, a positive relationship is found between the labor force’s level of educational attainment and competitiveness. While in the European Economic Area (EEA17), tertiary education is the only significant education-based determinant of the export market share, in CEECs; both the shares of the workforce with secondary and tertiary education are significant with the former having a greater impact. Some evidence is found for the hypothesized impact of the quality of education.

Suggested Citation

  • Arta Mulliqi & Nick Adnett & Mehtap Hisarciklilar & Artane Rizvanolli, 2018. "Human Capital and International Competitiveness in Europe, with Special Reference to Transition Economies," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(6), pages 541-563, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:mes:eaeuec:v:56:y:2018:i:6:p:541-563
    DOI: 10.1080/00128775.2018.1502612
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00128775.2018.1502612
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00128775.2018.1502612?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Omar S. Arias & Carolina Sánchez-Páramo & María E. Dávalos & Indhira Santos & Erwin R. Tiongson & Carola Gruen & Natasha de Andrade Falcão & Gady Saiovici & Cesar A. Cancho, 2014. "Back to Work : Growing with Jobs in Europe and Central Asia," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 16570.
    2. Eric Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2012. "Do better schools lead to more growth? Cognitive skills, economic outcomes, and causation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 267-321, December.
    3. Ilke Van Beveren & Hylke Vandenbussche, 2010. "Product and process innovation and firms' decision to export," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 3-24.
    4. Carlin, Wendy & Glyn, Andrew & Van Reenen, John, 2001. "Export Market Performance of OECD Countries: An Empirical Examination of the Role of Cost Competitiveness," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(468), pages 128-162, January.
    5. Andrew B. Bernard & Jonathan Eaton & J. Bradford Jensen & Samuel Kortum, 2003. "Plants and Productivity in International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1268-1290, September.
    6. van der Marel, Erik, 2011. "Determinants of comparative advantage in services," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 38993, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Daniel Münich & Jan Svejnar & Katherine Terrell, 2005. "Returns to Human Capital Under The Communist Wage Grid and During the Transition to a Market Economy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 100-123, February.
    8. Greene, William, 2011. "Fixed Effects Vector Decomposition: A Magical Solution to the Problem of Time-Invariant Variables in Fixed Effects Models?," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 135-146, April.
    9. Hausman, Jerry A & Taylor, William E, 1981. "Panel Data and Unobservable Individual Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1377-1398, November.
    10. Barbara Sianesi & John Van Reenen, 2003. "The Returns to Education: Macroeconomics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(2), pages 157-200, April.
    11. Krugman, Paul, 1980. "Scale Economies, Product Differentiation, and the Pattern of Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(5), pages 950-959, December.
    12. Theo Eicher & Till Schreiber, 2010. "Institutions and Growth: Time Series Evidence from Natural Experiments," Working Papers UWEC-2007-15-P, University of Washington, Department of Economics.
    13. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    14. Nadir Altinok & Claude Diebolt & Jean-Luc Demeulemeester, 2014. "A new international database on education quality: 1965--2010," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(11), pages 1212-1247, April.
    15. Joachim Wagner, 2012. "Average wage, qualification of the workforce and export performance in German enterprises: evidence from KombiFiD data [Durchschnittslohn, Belegschaftsqualifikation und Exporttätigkeit in deutschen," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 45(2), pages 161-170, July.
    16. Cassiman, Bruno & Golovko, Elena & Martínez-Ros, Ester, 2010. "Innovation, exports and productivity," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 372-376, July.
    17. Seck, Abdoulaye, 2012. "International technology diffusion and economic growth: Explaining the spillover benefits to developing countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 437-451.
    18. Carraresi, Laura & Banterle, Alessandro, 2015. "Agri-food Competitive Performance in EU Countries: A Fifteen-Year Retrospective," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 18(2), pages 1-26, May.
    19. Chor, Davin, 2010. "Unpacking sources of comparative advantage: A quantitative approach," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 152-167, November.
    20. Falk, Martin & Hagsten, Eva, 2015. "Export behaviour of SMEs in the Swedish computer service industry," Economics Discussion Papers 2015-14, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    21. Alexander Eickelpasch & Alexander Vogel, 2010. "Determinants of the export behaviour of German business services companies," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(4), pages 513-526, May.
    22. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    23. repec:wsr:wpaper:y:2012:i:087 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Pierre-Richard Agénor, 1997. "Competitiveness and external trade performance of the French manufacturing industry," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 133(1), pages 103-133, March.
    25. Petrit Gashi & Iraj Hashi & Geoff Pugh, 2014. "Export behaviour of SMEs in transition countries," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 407-435, February.
    26. Breusch, Trevor & Ward, Michael B. & Nguyen, Hoa Thi Minh & Kompas, Tom, 2011. "On the Fixed-Effects Vector Decomposition," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 123-134, April.
    27. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    28. Plümper, Thomas & Troeger, Vera E., 2007. "Efficient Estimation of Time-Invariant and Rarely Changing Variables in Finite Sample Panel Analyses with Unit Fixed Effects," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 124-139, April.
    29. Brunello, Giorgio & Crivellaro, Elena & Rocco, Lorenzo, 2010. "Lost in Transition? The Returns to Education Acquired under Communism 15 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall," IZA Discussion Papers 5409, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    30. Raymond Vernon, 1966. "International Investment and International Trade in the Product Cycle," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 80(2), pages 190-207.
    31. Plümper, Thomas & Troeger, Vera E., 2011. "Fixed-Effects Vector Decomposition: Properties, Reliability, and Instruments," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 147-164, April.
    32. Ali M Kutan & Goran Vukšić, 2007. "Foreign Direct Investment and Export Performance: Empirical Evidence," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 49(3), pages 430-445, September.
    33. M. V. Posner, 1961. "International Trade And Technical Change," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(3), pages 323-341.
    34. Mamta Murthi & Lars Sondergaard, 2010. "Skills, Not Just Diplomas : The Path for Education Reforms in ECA," World Bank Publications - Reports 10191, The World Bank Group.
    35. Gemmell, Norman, 1996. "Evaluating the Impacts of Human Capital Stocks and Accumulation on Economic Growth: Some New Evidence," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 58(1), pages 9-28, February.
    36. Ilke Van Beveren & Hylke Vandenbussche, 2010. "Product and process innovation and firms' decision to export," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 3-24.
    37. Åsa Johansson & Przemyslaw Kowalski & Eduardo Olaberría & Dario Pellegrino, 2014. "What Explains the Volume and Composition of Trade?: Industrial Evidence from a Panel of Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1128, OECD Publishing.
    38. Roper, Stephen & Love, James H., 2002. "Innovation and export performance: evidence from the UK and German manufacturing plants," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 1087-1102, September.
    39. Wakelin, Katharine, 1998. "Innovation and export behaviour at the firm level," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(7-8), pages 829-841, April.
    40. repec:lic:licosd:20408 is not listed on IDEAS
    41. Laursen, Keld & Meliciani, Valentina, 2010. "The role of ICT knowledge flows for international market share dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 687-697, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carmen Valentina RADULESCU & Florina BRAN & Cristina ALPOPI & Petrica Sorin ANGHELU?A, 2018. "Aspects Of Early Leaving Education And Training Systems From The Perspective Of Tertiary Education," Proceedings of Administration and Public Management International Conference, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 14(1), pages 35-46, October.
    2. Carmen Emilia Chașovschi & Carmen Nastase & Mihai Popescu & Adrian-Liviu Scutariu & Iulian-Alexandru Condratov, 2021. "Human Resources Training Needs in the Small and Medium Enterprises from Cross-Border Area Romania-Ukraine-Republic of Moldova," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-28, February.
    3. Arta MULLIQI, 2021. "The role of education in explaining technology-intensive exports: a comparative analysis of transition and non-transition economies," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 12, pages 141-172, June.
    4. Antonella Biscione & Chiara Burlina & Raul Caruso & Annunziata de Felice, 2021. "Innovation in Transition countries: the role of training," Working Papers 1013, European Centre of Peace Science, Integration and Cooperation (CESPIC), Catholic University 'Our Lady of Good Counsel'.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dosi, Giovanni & Grazzi, Marco & Moschella, Daniele, 2015. "Technology and costs in international competitiveness: From countries and sectors to firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1795-1814.
    2. Tomasz Brodzicki, 2017. "Internationalisation and Innovation Intensities of Polish Manufacturing Firms: A Close Nexus?," Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, Centre for Strategic and International Entrepreneurship at the Cracow University of Economics., vol. 5(1), pages 91-109.
    3. Richard Harris & John Moffat, 2011. "R&D, Innovation and Exporting," SERC Discussion Papers 0073, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Tomasz Brodzicki & Dorota Ciolek, 2016. "Creativity pays off. Innovation, innovation strategy, and internationalization," Working Papers 1601, Instytut Rozwoju, Institute for Development.
    5. Arta MULLIQI, 2021. "The role of education in explaining technology-intensive exports: a comparative analysis of transition and non-transition economies," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 12, pages 141-172, June.
    6. Ketan Reddy & Radeef Chundakkadan & Subash Sasidharan, 2021. "Firm innovation and global value chain participation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1995-2015, December.
    7. de Rassenfosse, Gaétan & Grazzi, Marco & Moschella, Daniele & Pellegrino, Gabriele, 2022. "International patent protection and trade: Transaction-level evidence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    8. Rodil, Óscar & Vence, Xavier & Sánchez, María del Carmen, 2016. "The relationship between innovation and export behaviour: The case of Galician firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 113(PB), pages 248-265.
    9. Falk, Martin & de Lemos, Francisco Figueira, 2019. "Complementarity of R&D and productivity in SME export behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 157-168.
    10. Reddy, Ketan & Sasidharan, Subash, 2023. "Innovative efforts and export market survival: Evidence from an emerging economy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PA).
    11. Jaya Prakash Pradhan & Mohammad Zohair, 2015. "Subnational Export Performance and Determinants," Review of Market Integration, India Development Foundation, vol. 7(2), pages 133-174, August.
    12. Trinh, Long Q., 2016. "Dynamics of Innovation and Internationalization among Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Viet Nam," ADBI Working Papers 580, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    13. Abdul Rauf & Ying Ma & Abdul Jalil, 2019. "Revisiting the Innovation-export Nexus using Industry-level Data: Evidence from China's Large- and Medium-sized Industrial Enterprises," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 9(3), pages 73-80.
    14. Marco Di Cintio & Sucharita Ghosh & Emanuele Grassi, 2016. "Firm Employment Growth, R&D Expenditures and Exports," Working Papers 2016.44, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    15. Sakari Lähdemäki & Eero Lehto & Eero Mäkynen, 2018. "The Role of Natural Resources and Geography for Productivity in Developed Countries," Working Papers 320, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    16. R Harris & Q Li, "undated". "Exporting, R&D and Absorptive Capacity in UK Establishments: Evidence from the 2001 Community Innovation Survey," Working Papers 2006_19, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    17. Wu, Lichao & Wei, Yingqi & Wang, Chengang & McDonald, Frank & Han, Xia, 2022. "The importance of institutional and financial resources for export performance associated with technological innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    18. Rossi, Stefania Patrizia Sonia & Bonanno, Graziella & Giansoldati, Marco & Gregori, Tullio, 2021. "Export starters and exiters: Do innovation and finance matter?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 280-297.
    19. Marco Di Cintio & Sucharita Ghosh & Emanuele Grassi, 2016. "Firm Employment Growth, R&D Expenditures and Exports," Working Papers 2016.44, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    20. Andrzej Cieślik & Jan Jakub Michałek, 2017. "Innovation Forms and Firm Export Performance: Empirical Evidence from ECA Countries," Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, Centre for Strategic and International Entrepreneurship at the Cracow University of Economics., vol. 5(2), pages 85-99.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mes:eaeuec:v:56:y:2018:i:6:p:541-563. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/MEEE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.