IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ove/journl/aid17764.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Alternative specifications of human capital in production functions

Author

Listed:
  • Luis Orea
  • Antonio Alvarez

Abstract

In this paper we argue that some empirical specifications may not be appropriate to estimate accurately the returns to human capital. In particular, we show that the inclusion in aggregate production functions of the ratio of skilled labor force over total labor force as a proxy for human capital may not be a good way to control for the heterogeneity of labor.

Suggested Citation

  • Luis Orea & Antonio Alvarez, 2022. "Alternative specifications of human capital in production functions," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 11(4), pages 172-179.
  • Handle: RePEc:ove:journl:aid:17764
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://reunido.uniovi.es/index.php/EBL/article/view/17764
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Gary S. Becker, 1962. "Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis," NBER Chapters, in: Investment in Human Beings, pages 9-49, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Angel de la Fuente & Rafael Doménech, 2006. "Human Capital in Growth Regressions: How Much Difference Does Data Quality Make?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(1), pages 1-36, March.
    4. Benjamin Cheng & Robert Hsu, 1997. "Human capital and economic growth in Japan: an application of time series analysis," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(6), pages 393-395.
    5. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    6. Benhabib, Jess & Spiegel, Mark M., 1994. "The role of human capital in economic development evidence from aggregate cross-country data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 143-173, October.
    7. Mello, Marcelo, 2008. "Skilled labor, unskilled labor, and economic growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 428-431, September.
    8. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    9. Mulligan, Casey B & Sala-i-Martin, Xavier, 2000. "Measuring Aggregate Human Capital," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 215-252, September.
    10. Temple, Jonathan, 1999. "A positive effect of human capital on growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 131-134, October.
    11. Angel de la Fuente & Rafael Domenech, 2001. "Schooling Data, Technological Diffusion, and the Neoclassical Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 323-327, May.
    12. Creina Day & Steve Dowrick, 2013. "Endogenous growth with R&D and human capital: the role of returns to scale," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 65(2), pages 312-322, April.
    13. Pritchett, Lant, 1996. "Where has all the education gone?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1581, The World Bank.
    14. Robert J. Barro, 2001. "Human Capital and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 12-17, May.
    15. Bas Van Leeuwen & Peter Foldvari, 2008. "Human Capital and Economic Growth in Asia 1890–2000: A Time‐series Analysis," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 225-240, September.
    16. Judson, Ruth, 2002. "Measuring Human Capital Like Physical Capital: What Does It Tell Us?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 209-231, July.
    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. Yekimov, Sergey, 2023. "Construction of a production function in the form of series of exponents of a function of a complex variable (on the example of the Czech Republic 2006-2021)," MPRA Paper 117076, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. João Paulo Pereira, 2005. "Measuring Human Capital in Portugal," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 21, pages 16-34, June.
    2. Rogers, Mark Llewellyn, 2008. "Directly unproductive schooling: How country characteristics affect the impact of schooling on growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 356-385, February.
    3. Uwe Sunde & Thomas Vischer, 2015. "Human Capital and Growth: Specification Matters," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 82(326), pages 368-390, April.
    4. Eftimoski, Dimitar, 2022. "On the inconclusive effect of human capital on growth: A new look at extended specifications," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 708-727.
    5. Antonio Ciccone & Elias Papaioannou, 2009. "Human Capital, the Structure of Production, and Growth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(1), pages 66-82, February.
    6. Pereira, João & St. Aubyn, Miguel, 2009. "What level of education matters most for growth?: Evidence from Portugal," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 67-73, February.
    7. Lenkei, Balint & Mustafa, Ghulam & Vecchi, Michela, 2018. "Growth in emerging economies: Is there a role for education?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 240-253.
    8. Benos, Nikos & Zotou, Stefania, 2014. "Education and Economic Growth: A Meta-Regression Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 669-689.
    9. Ludger Wößmann, 2003. "Specifying Human Capital," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 239-270, July.
    10. Ulrich Reuter, 2006. "What Kind of Education Does China Need?: The Impact of Educational Attainment on Local Growth and Disparities," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-127, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Måns Söderbom & Francis Teal, 2003. "Openness and human capital as sources of productivity growth: An empirical investigation," CSAE Working Paper Series 2003-06, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    12. Michael S. Delgado & Daniel J. Henderson & Christopher F. Parmeter, 2014. "Does Education Matter for Economic Growth?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 76(3), pages 334-359, June.
    13. Daren, Conrad, 2007. "Education and Economic Growth: Is There a Link?," MPRA Paper 18176, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2009.
    14. Anabela Queirós & Aurora A.C. Teixeira, 2014. "Economic growth, human capital and structural change: an empirical analysis," FEP Working Papers 549, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    15. Christian Dreger & Georg Erber & Daniela Glocker, 2008. "Regional Measures of Human Capital in the European Union," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 137, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    16. Cem Ertur & Wilfried Koch, 2006. "The Role of Human Capital and Technological Interdependence in Growth and Convergence Processes: International Evidence," DEGIT Conference Papers c011_029, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    17. Warning, Susanne & Dürrenberger, Nicole, 2015. "Corruption and education: Does public financing of higher education matter?," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112836, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Jérôme Vandenbussche & Philippe Aghion & Costas Meghir, 2006. "Growth, distance to frontier and composition of human capital," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 97-127, June.
    19. Capolupo, Rosa, 2009. "The New Growth Theories and Their Empirics after Twenty Years," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-72.
    20. Angel de la Fuente & Antonio Ciccone, 2003. "Human capital in a global and knowledge-based economy," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 562.03, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).

    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:ove:journl:aid:17764. 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: Francisco J. Delgado (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deovies.html .

    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.