Macroeconomic and institutional determinants of human capital wealth: gender disparities and implications

The present study defines three pillars that, from a macroeconomic and institutional perspective, influence the accumulation of human capital: (1) Deepening physical capital, measured by the stock of physical capital; (2) economic modernization, captured by ICTs and structural change; and (3) institutions and policies, which are respectively gauged by institutional quality and freedom to trade internationally. The methodological procedure involved two approaches. Firstly, we have estimated the models by using a new instrumental variable approach (a conditional mean estimates). We found that the three pillars have a positive impact on human capital. While the first pillar has the same impacts on both women’s and men’s human capital, the second and third pillars show distinct impacts on human capital accumulation depending on gender. Therefore, structural change and the quality of institutions exert a greater influence on the female human capital, while ICTs and openness are more pertinent to the accumulation of human capital among males. Finally, we implement a panel-data quantile regression analysis in order to detect whether differences are observed according to the different levels of economic development. We found a growing effect from physical capital stock to human capital and some differential gender impacts at first quantiles which tend to disappear at last quantiles. The variables included in the second and third pillars usually have a declining impact once we move towards the upper quantiles and show some differential impact depending on the gender.