IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/60065.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Human capital development, knowledge spillovers and local growth: Is there a quality effect of university efficiency?

Author

Listed:
  • Zotti, Roberto
  • Barra, Cristian

Abstract

In this paper, we test whether economic growth depends on human capital development using data disaggregated at territorial level and propose the use of efficiency estimates, measured using a non-parametric technique, as an alternative quality measure of higher education institutions (HEIs). The nature of knowledge spillovers is also taken into account to examine the existence of geographically localized spillovers, from the presence of efficient universities, on local growth. Results show that the efficiency of universities has a positive and significant effect on GDP per worker. Moreover, we find evidence that productivity gains are larger in areas in which the most efficient universities are located, suggesting that investment in tertiary education may affect geographical distribution of economic activity as well as its level.

Suggested Citation

  • Zotti, Roberto & Barra, Cristian, 2014. "Human capital development, knowledge spillovers and local growth: Is there a quality effect of university efficiency?," MPRA Paper 60065, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:60065
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/60065/1/MPRA_paper_60065.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wiji Arulampalam & Robin A. Naylor & Jeremy P. Smith, 2004. "A hazard model of the probability of medical school drop‐out in the UK," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 167(1), pages 157-178, February.
    2. Gianna Boero & Abigail McKnight & Robin Naylor & Jeremy Smith, 2004. "Graduates and Graduate Labour Markets in the UK and Italy," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Daniele Checchi & Claudio Lucifora (ed.), Education, Training and Labour Market Outcomes in Europe, chapter 6, pages 129-165, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Veugelers, Reinhilde & Cassiman, Bruno, 2005. "R&D cooperation between firms and universities. Some empirical evidence from Belgian manufacturing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(5-6), pages 355-379, June.
    4. Roland Andersson & John M. Quigley & Mats Wilhelmson, 2004. "University decentralization as regional policy: the Swedish experiment," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 371-388, August.
    5. Rebecca Henderson & Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg, 1998. "Universities As A Source Of Commercial Technology: A Detailed Analysis Of University Patenting, 1965-1988," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(1), pages 119-127, February.
    6. Fried, Harold O. & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Shelton S. (ed.), 2008. "The Measurement of Productive Efficiency and Productivity Growth," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195183528.
    7. Roderik Ponds & Frank van Oort & Koen Frenken, 2010. "Innovation, spillovers and university--industry collaboration: an extended knowledge production function approach," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(2), pages 231-255, March.
    8. Worthington, Andrew C. & Lee, Boon L., 2008. "Efficiency, technology and productivity change in Australian universities, 1998-2003," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 285-298, June.
    9. Winters, John V., 2011. "Human capital, higher education institutions, and quality of life," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 446-454, September.
    10. Kao, Chiang & Hung, Hsi-Tai, 2008. "Efficiency analysis of university departments: An empirical study," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 653-664, August.
    11. Luc Anselin & Attila Varga & Zoltan Acs, 2008. "Local Geographic Spillovers Between University Research and High Technology Innovations," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 9, pages 95-121, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Alessandra Faggian & Philip Mccann, 2009. "Universities, Agglomerations And Graduate Human Capital Mobility," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 100(2), pages 210-223, April.
    13. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    14. Jaison R. Abel & Richard Deitz, 2012. "Do colleges and universities increase their region's human capital?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(3), pages 667-691, May.
    15. Gregory D. Wozniak, 1987. "Human Capital, Information, and the Early Adoption of New Technology," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 22(1), pages 101-112.
    16. Laura Abramovsky & Helen Simpson, 2011. "Geographic proximity and firm--university innovation linkages: evidence from Great Britain," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(6), pages 949-977, November.
    17. Silvia Bacci & Bruno Chiandotto & Angelo Di Francia & silvia.ghiselli@almalaurea.it, 2008. "Graduates Job Mobility: A Longitudinal Analysis," Statistica, Department of Statistics, University of Bologna, vol. 68(3), pages 255-279.
    18. Wesley M. Cohen & Richard R. Nelson & John P. Walsh, 2003. "Links and Impacts: The Influence of Public Research on Industrial R&D," Chapters, in: Aldo Geuna & Ammon J. Salter & W. Edward Steinmueller (ed.), Science and Innovation, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Harvey Goldstein & Catherine Renault, 2004. "Contributions of Universities to Regional Economic Development: A Quasi-experimental Approach," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(7), pages 733-746.
    20. Stephen L. DesJardins & Dennis A. Ahlburg & Brian P. McCall, 2002. "A Temporal Investigation of Factors Related to Timely Degree Completion," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(5), pages 555-581, September.
    21. Gary Madden & Scott Savage & Steven Kemp, 1997. "Measuring Public Sector Efficiency: A Study of Economics Departments at Australian Universities," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(2), pages 153-168.
    22. P. Wilner Jeanty, 2010. "SPLAGVAR: Stata module to generate spatially lagged variables, construct the Moran Scatter plot, and calculate Moran's I statistics," Statistical Software Components S457112, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 09 Aug 2012.
    23. Etzkowitz, Henry, 2003. "Research groups as 'quasi-firms': the invention of the entrepreneurial university," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 109-121, January.
    24. Walter Briec & K. Kerstens, 2009. "Infeasibilities and directional distance functions: with application to the determinateness of the luenberger productivity indicator," Post-Print hal-00372560, HAL.
    25. Hasan, Iftekhar & Koetter, Michael & Wedow, Michael, 2009. "Regional growth and finance in Europe: Is there a quality effect of bank efficiency?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 1446-1453, August.
    26. Alessandra Faggian & Philip McCann & Stephen Sheppard, 2007. "Human Capital, Higher Education and Graduate Migration: An Analysis of Scottish and Welsh Students," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(13), pages 2511-2528, December.
    27. Cazals, Catherine & Florens, Jean-Pierre & Simar, Leopold, 2002. "Nonparametric frontier estimation: a robust approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 1-25, January.
    28. W. Briec & K. Kerstens, 2009. "Infeasibility and Directional Distance Functions with Application to the Determinateness of the Luenberger Productivity Indicator," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 141(1), pages 55-73, April.
    29. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    30. William W. Cooper & Lawrence M. Seiford & Kaoru Tone, 2006. "Introduction to Data Envelopment Analysis and Its Uses," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-0-387-29122-2, June.
    31. Etzkowitz, Henry & Leydesdorff, Loet, 2000. "The dynamics of innovation: from National Systems and "Mode 2" to a Triple Helix of university-industry-government relations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 109-123, February.
    32. Scott Shane, 2002. "Selling University Technology: Patterns from MIT," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(1), pages 122-137, January.
    33. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2009_013 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. M C A Silva Portela & E Thanassoulis & G Simpson, 2004. "Negative data in DEA: a directional distance approach applied to bank branches," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 55(10), pages 1111-1121, October.
    35. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    36. Ronald L. Whisler & Brigitte S. Waldorf & Gordon F. Mulligan & David A. Plane, 2008. "Quality of Life and the Migration of the College‐Educated: A Life‐Course Approach," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 58-94, March.
    37. S. Destefanis & C. Barra & G. Lubrano Lavadera, 2014. "Financial development and local growth: evidence from highly disaggregated Italian data," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(24), pages 1605-1615, December.
    38. Greene, William H., 1980. "On the estimation of a flexible frontier production model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 101-115, May.
    39. Richard Florida & Charlotta Mellander & Kevin Stolarick, 2008. "Inside the black box of regional development: human capital, the creative class and tolerance," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(5), pages 615-649, September.
    40. Wade D. Cook & Joe Zhu, 2007. "Data Irregularities And Structural Complexities In Dea," Springer Books, in: Joe Zhu & Wade D. Cook (ed.), Modeling Data Irregularities and Structural Complexities in Data Envelopment Analysis, chapter 0, pages 1-11, Springer.
    41. Abbott, M. & Doucouliagos, C., 2003. "The efficiency of Australian universities: a data envelopment analysis," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 89-97, February.
    42. R. G. Chambers & Y. Chung & R. Färe, 1998. "Profit, Directional Distance Functions, and Nerlovian Efficiency," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 98(2), pages 351-364, August.
    43. Jaison R. Abel & Richard Deitz, 2011. "The role of colleges and universities in building local human capital," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 17(Oct).
    44. Mansfield, Edwin, 1995. "Academic Research Underlying Industrial Innovations:," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 77(1), pages 55-65, February.
    45. Jesús T. Pastor & José L. Ruiz, 2007. "Variables With Negative Values In Dea," Springer Books, in: Joe Zhu & Wade D. Cook (ed.), Modeling Data Irregularities and Structural Complexities in Data Envelopment Analysis, chapter 0, pages 63-84, Springer.
    46. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    47. Bartel, Ann P & Lichtenberg, Frank R, 1987. "The Comparative Advantage of Educated Workers in Implementing New Technology," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(1), pages 1-11, February.
    48. Jeremy Smith & Robin Naylor, 2001. "Determinants of Degree Performance in UK Universities: A Statistical Analysis of the 1993 Student Cohort," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 63(1), pages 29-60, February.
    49. Rolf Färe & Shawna Grosskopf, 2000. "Theory and Application of Directional Distance Functions," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 93-103, March.
    50. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    51. Tommaso Agasisti, 2011. "Performances and spending efficiency in higher education: a European comparison through non-parametric approaches," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 199-224.
    52. Peter Bogetoft & Lars Otto, 2011. "Benchmarking with DEA, SFA, and R," International Series in Operations Research and Management Science, Springer, number 978-1-4419-7961-2, July-Dece.
    53. Vernon Henderson, J., 2007. "Understanding knowledge spillovers," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 497-508, July.
    54. Windmeijer, Frank, 2005. "A finite sample correction for the variance of linear efficient two-step GMM estimators," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 25-51, May.
    55. P. Wilner Jeanty, 2010. "SPWMATRIX: Stata module to generate, import, and export spatial weights," Statistical Software Components S457111, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 15 Mar 2014.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2017. "Investigating the Human Capital Development–growth Nexus," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 40(6), pages 638-678, November.
    2. Tommaso Agasisti & Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2019. "Research, knowledge transfer, and innovation: The effect of Italian universities’ efficiency on local economic development 2006−2012," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 819-849, November.
    3. Barra, Cristian & Zotti, Roberto, 2014. "Handling negative data using Data Envelopment Analysis: a directional distance approach applied to higher education," MPRA Paper 55570, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Barra, Cristian & Lagravinese, Raffaele & Zotti, Roberto, 2015. "Explaining (in)efficiency in higher education: a comparison of parametric and non-parametric analyses to rank universities," MPRA Paper 67119, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Barra, Cristian & Lagravinese, Raffaele & Zotti, Roberto, 2018. "Does econometric methodology matter to rank universities? An analysis of Italian higher education system," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 104-120.
    6. Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2016. "Measuring Efficiency in Higher Education: An Empirical Study Using a Bootstrapped Data Envelopment Analysis," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 22(1), pages 11-33, February.
    7. Calogero Guccio & Marco Ferdinando Martorana & Luisa Monaco, 2016. "Evaluating the impact of the Bologna Process on the efficiency convergence of Italian universities: a non-parametric frontier approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 275-298, June.
    8. Adalgiso Amendola & Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2020. "Does graduate human capital production increase local economic development? An instrumental variable approach," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(5), pages 959-994, November.
    9. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Daniele Biancardi & Mabel Sanchez Barrioluengo & Federico Biagi, 2019. "Study on Higher Education Institutions and Local Development," JRC Research Reports JRC117272, Joint Research Centre.
    10. K Kerstens & I Van de Woestyne, 2011. "Negative data in DEA: a simple proportional distance function approach," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 62(7), pages 1413-1419, July.
    11. Kristof De Witte & Laura López-Torres, 2017. "Efficiency in education: a review of literature and a way forward," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 339-363, April.
    12. Banal-Estañol, Albert & Jofre-Bonet, Mireia & Lawson, Cornelia, 2015. "The double-edged sword of industry collaboration: Evidence from engineering academics in the UK," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 1160-1175.
    13. Agasisti, Tommaso & Barra, Cristian & Zotti, Roberto, 2016. "Evaluating the efficiency of Italian public universities (2008–2011) in presence of (unobserved) heterogeneity," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 47-58.
    14. Aparicio, Juan & Ortiz, Lidia & Santín, Daniel, 2021. "Comparing group performance over time through the Luenberger productivity indicator: An application to school ownership in European countries," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 294(2), pages 651-672.
    15. Barra, Cristian & Zotti, Roberto, 2015. "Regional innovation system (in)efficiency and its determinants: an empirical evidence from Italian regions," MPRA Paper 67067, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Nakano, Makiko & Managi, Shunsuke, 2008. "Regulatory reforms and productivity: An empirical analysis of the Japanese electricity industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 201-209, January.
    17. Igors Skute & Kasia Zalewska-Kurek & Isabella Hatak & Petra Weerd-Nederhof, 2019. "Mapping the field: a bibliometric analysis of the literature on university–industry collaborations," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 916-947, June.
    18. Mehdi Rhaiem, 2017. "Measurement and determinants of academic research efficiency: a systematic review of the evidence," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(2), pages 581-615, February.
    19. Cristian BARRA & Roberto ZOTTI, 2019. "Bank Performance, Financial Stability And Market Concentration: Evidence From Cooperative And Non‐Cooperative Banks," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 90(1), pages 103-139, March.
    20. Juan Aparicio & Magdalena Kapelko & Bernhard Mahlberg & Jose L. Sainz-Pardo, 2017. "Measuring input-specific productivity change based on the principle of least action," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 17-31, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Human capital; Higher education; Knowledge spillovers; Local economic development; Non-parametric technique.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • C67 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Input-Output Models
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pra:mprapa:60065. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.