IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/pocoec/v20y2008i2p189-201.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How much human capital does Eastern Europe have? Measurement methods and results

Author

Listed:
  • Bas van Leeuwen
  • Peter Foldvari

Abstract

There is a general consensus that human capital is a major determinant of economic development. However, the range of available human capital variables is very wide in both a technical and a theoretical sense, so that different human capital measures are sometimes only loosely correlated. This is partly because they capture different aspects of human capital ranging from the resources devoted to human capital creation (without taking account of market forces) to attaching a monetary value based on the market value of labour. Hence, different measures can lead to very different results and conclusions. This difference is especially prevalent in Eastern Europe, which experienced a massive expansion of formal education in the twentieth century which was not always matched by demand from the market or the efficiency of institutions. Consequently, if we look at the attainment figures only, we find that Eastern Europe had about 70-80% of the USA's human capital in per capita terms in the 1990s. Using methods that measure the market value of human capital, however, reduces this estimate to 10-20%.

Suggested Citation

  • Bas van Leeuwen & Peter Foldvari, 2008. "How much human capital does Eastern Europe have? Measurement methods and results," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 189-201.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:pocoec:v:20:y:2008:i:2:p:189-201
    DOI: 10.1080/14631370802018932
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14631370802018932
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/14631370802018932?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. Robert J. Barro, 1998. "Determinants of Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Study," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262522543, December.
    2. Kyriacou, George A., 1991. "Level and Growth Effects of Human Capital: A Cross-Country Study of the Convergence Hypothesis," Working Papers 91-26, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
    3. Lau, Lawrence J. & Jamison, Dean T. & Louat, Frederic F., 1991. "Education and productivity in developing countries : an aggregate production function approach," Policy Research Working Paper Series 612, The World Bank.
    4. John W. Kendrick, 1976. "The Formation and Stocks of Total Capital," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number kend76-1, 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. Dmitry Didenko & Péter Földvári & Bas van Leeuwen, 2013. "Inspiration and Perspiration Factors in Economic Growth: The Former Soviet Union Area versus China (ca. 1920-2010)," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd12-283, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    2. Bartha Attila, 2013. "Governance, Culture And Democracy: Institutions And Economic Development Of Eu Member States," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 205-214, July.
    3. zhdanov, dmitry, 2022. "Оценка Величины Человеческого Капитала Предприятия: Проблемы И Решения [Evaluation of the human capital of the enterprise: problems and solutions]," MPRA Paper 119419, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Bas van Leeuwen & Peter Földvári, 2013. "Capital Accumulation and Growth in Central Europe, 1920-2006," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(5), pages 69-93, September.
    5. Giuseppe Folloni & Giorgio Vittadini, 2010. "Human Capital Measurement: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 248-279, April.
    6. Mariya Neycheva, 2016. "Secondary versus higher education for growth: the case of three countries with different human capital’s structure and quality," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 2367-2393, November.
    7. Irina Soboleva, 2011. "Patterns of Human Capital Development in Russia: Meeting the Challenge of Market Reforms and Globalization," Institutions and Economies (formerly known as International Journal of Institutions and Economies), Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, vol. 3(2), pages 235-257, July.
    8. Torben Schubert & Andrea Bonaccorsi & Tasso Brandt & Daniela De Filippo & Benedetto Lepori & Andreas Niederl, 2014. "Is there a European university model? New evidence on national path dependence and structural convergence," Chapters, in: Andrea Bonaccorsi (ed.), Knowledge, Diversity and Performance in European Higher Education, chapter 2, pages iii-iii, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    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. Les OXxley & Ttrinh Le & John Gibson, 2008. "Measuring Human Capital: Alternative Methods and International Evidence," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 24, pages 283-344.
    2. Trinh Le & John Gibson & Les Oxley, 2005. "Measures of human capital: A review of the literature," Treasury Working Paper Series 05/10, New Zealand Treasury.
    3. repec:cmj:networ:y:2013:i:1:p:12-25 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. 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).
    5. Simeonova-Ganeva, Ralitsa, 2006. "Влияние На Човешкия Капитал Върху Икономическия Растеж (България, 1949-2005 Г.) [The Impact of Human Capital on the Economic Growth (Bulgaria, 1949-2005)]," MPRA Paper 37244, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Wößmann, Ludger, 2000. "Specifying Human Capital: A Review, Some Extensions, and Development Effects," Kiel Working Papers 1007, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    7. Angel De la Fuente, 2011. "Human capital and productivity," Working Papers 1103, BBVA Bank, Economic Research Department.
    8. Bálint BALOGH, 2013. "How To Measure Human Capital: A Short Review," Network Intelligence Studies, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 1, pages 21-36, July.
    9. Simeonova-Ganeva, Ralitsa, 2012. "Измерване На Човешкия Капитал В Икономиката. Приложения За България [Measuring Human Capital in the Economy. Applications for Bulgaria]," MPRA Paper 52951, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2012.
    10. Gregorio Giménez Esteban & Carmen López Pueyo & Jaime Sanaú Villarroya, 2011. "La medición del capital humano de los países de la OCDE," Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación volume 6, in: Antonio Caparrós Ruiz (ed.), Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 6, edition 1, volume 6, chapter 57, pages 933-952, Asociación de Economía de la Educación.
    11. Miho Shirotori & Bolormaa Tumurchudur & Olivier Cadot, 2010. "Revealed Factor Intensity Indices at the Product Level," UNCTAD Blue Series Papers 44, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    12. 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.
    13. Angel de la Fuente & Rafael Domènech, 2012. "Educational Attainment in the OECD, 1960-2010," Working Papers 658, Barcelona School of Economics.
    14. Marcelo Soto, 2006. "The Causal Effect of Education on Aggregate Income," Working Papers 0605, International Economics Institute, University of Valencia.
    15. Angel de la Fuente & Rafael Doménech, 2013. "Cross-country data on the quantity of schooling: a selective survey and some quality measures," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 936.13, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    16. Di Liberto, Adriana, 2008. "Education and Italian regional development," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 94-107, February.
    17. Marcelo Soto, 2006. "Estimating the Social Return on Schooling," Papers of the Annual IUE-SUNY Cortland Conference in Economics, in: Oguz Esen & Ayla Ogus (ed.), Proceedings of the Conference on Human and Economic Resources, pages 43-65, Izmir University of Economics.
    18. João Paulo Pereira, 2005. "Measuring Human Capital in Portugal," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 21, pages 16-34, June.
    19. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong-Wha, 1993. "International comparisons of educational attainment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 363-394, December.
    20. Ming Yu Cheng & Ron Mittelhammer, 2008. "Globalization and Economic Development: Impact of Social Capital and Institutional Building," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(5), pages 859-888, November.
    21. Worku, Urgaia R., 2020. "The Importance of Human Capital Resources for Sustainable Economic Growth in East African," Ethiopian Journal of Economics, Ethiopian Economics Association, vol. 29(01), April.

    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:taf:pocoec:v:20:y:2008:i:2:p:189-201. 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/CPCE20 .

    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.