Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP5354
Authors: Antonio Ciccone; Elias Papaioannou
Abstract: Do high levels of human capital foster economic growth by facilitating technology adoption? If so, countries with more human capital should have adopted more rapidly the skilled-labour augmenting technologies becoming available since the 1970's. High human capital levels should therefore have translated into fast growth in more compared to less human-capital-intensive industries in the 1980's. Theories of international specialization point to human capital accumulation as another important determinant of growth in human-capital-intensive industries. Using data for a large sample of countries, we find significant positive effects of human capital levels and human capital accumulation on output and employment growth in human-capital-intensive industries.
Keywords: growth; human capital; structure of production
JEL Codes: E13; F11; O11
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| High levels of human capital (J24) | Faster output growth in human-capital-intensive industries (J24) |
| High levels of human capital (J24) | Technology adoption (O33) |
| Technology adoption (O33) | Enhanced productivity (O49) |
| Improvements in human capital over time (J24) | Growth in human-capital-intensive industries (J24) |
| Human capital levels and accumulation (J24) | Output and employment growth in human-capital-intensive sectors (J24) |