Education Growth: Some Disaggregate Evideence from the Italian Regions (original) (raw)
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2014
Many empirical studies have analysed the convergence of the Italian regions, but no evidence is provided on the causes of differences in productivity levels. Moving from a recent approach focusing on differences in levels across countries, rather than in growth rates (Hall-Jones, 1999), the determinants of regional differences in levels of labour productivity and Total Factor Productivity are investigated. Through an evaluation of regional stock of physical and human capital, we carry out the decomposition of the output per worker in the contribution deriving from factor accumulation and from TFP. The paper achieves two relevant results. First, the growth accounting exercise shows that regional disparities in output per worker are mainly due to the differences in TFP, rather than in inputs accumulation. Second, the estimation of an econometric model of the determinants of TFP, in contrast with previous studies, shows the importance of some variables (infrastructures, state intervent...
2005
Paper prepared for the 45th Congress of the European Regional Science Association Since Solow's (1957) contribution, human capital has a central role in the debate on economic growth as a leading long period development factor. If from a theoretical point of view the role of human capital on economic growth both directly and throughout its use in R&D activities is fully accepted, from an empirical perspective the results are much more controversial, strictly depending on the quality of data. A recent analysis by Aghion and Cohen (2004) put in evidence that high-level human capital has a positive effect on economic performance only if a country is close to the technological frontier: countries that are far from this frontier, specialised in traditional sectors, can growth, almost in the short run, even exploiting medium-level human capital. This analysis lead to consider the link between human capital and growth with a greater detail, trying to disclose the effect of different human capitals in a country, such as Italy, traditionally oriented toward a low/medium technology production. Using, beyond the usual proxies of human capital, some measures of its quality and of its interrelation with R&D sector, we would like to give a new contribution to the analysis of regional growth in Italy in the period 1980-2001. The panel approach, here adopted, allows us to take account of the temporal variability and to check for omitted variable specific for regions and persistent over time.
What determines productivity level in the long run? Evidence from Italians regions
2005
In this paper we estimate the long-run relationships between total factor productivity and three types of capital stocks: R&D capital, human capital and public capital, between 1980 and 2001. We exploit recent developments of panel cointegration techniques to estimate cointegration vectors that control for endogeneity of regressors. In the empirical literature on economic growth a central issue is the direction of causality between economic growth and regressors. In order to deal with this question, we shall estimate the error-correction model, which allows long and short-run Granger causality tests to be performed. Empirical evidence shows firstly that there exists a long-run equilibrium between productivity level and the three kinds of capital; among them, human capital has the strongest impact on productivity level. Secondly, results of the Granger-causality tests support the hypothesis that human capital and public capital cause productivity growth in the long run while the opposite is not true. Only for R&D capital stock is the bi-directional causality found.
Uneven regional development in Italy: explaining differences in productivity levels
2000
Many empirical studies have analysed the convergence of the Italian regions, but no evidence is provided on the causes of differences in productivity levels. Moving from a recent approach focusing on differences in levels across countries, rather than in growth rates , the determinants of regional differences in levels of labour productivity and Total Factor Productivity are investigated. Through an evaluation of regional stock of physical and human capital, we carry out the decomposition of the output per worker in the contribution deriving from factor accumulation and from TFP. The paper achieves two relevant results. First, the growth accounting exercise shows that regional disparities in output per worker are mainly due to the differences in TFP, rather than in inputs accumulation. Second, the estimation of an econometric model of the determinants of TFP, in contrast with previous studies, shows the importance of some variables (infrastructures, state intervention, financial system, property rights enforcement) in explaining Italian regional differences. JEL Classification: O47; R11; O11.
2005
Since Solow’s (1957) contribution, human capital has a central role in the debate on economic growth as a leading long period development factor. If from a theoretical point of view the role of human capital on economic growth both directly and throughout its use in R&D activities is fully accepted, from an empirical perspective the results are much more controversial, strictly depending on the quality of data. A recent analysis by Aghion and Cohen (2004) put in evidence that high-level human capital has a positive effect on economic performance only if a country is close to the technological frontier: countries that are far from this frontier, specialised in traditional sectors, can growth, almost in the short run, even exploiting medium-level human capital. This analysis lead to consider the link between human capital and growth with a greater detail, trying to disclose the effect of different human capitals in a country, such as Italy, traditionally oriented toward a low/medium t...
2014
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.
International Journal of Education Economics and Development, 2017
This study empirically investigates the causal short-run and long-run relationship between secondary education/human capital endowment and regional economic growth in Greece. It applies the extended neoclassical Mankiw, Romer and Weil's model. Panel data models are used in the estimation based on regional data from 1995 to 2012. Two different proxies of secondary education were used: enrolment rates in secondary education and the proportion of the labour force that has received secondary education. The empirical analysis reveals that secondary education with both proxies has had a positive and statistical significant effect on regional economic growth. The coefficient of elasticity of economic growth with respect to enrolment rates varies from 0.31 to 0.37, and for the proportion of the labour force, it varies from 0.17 to 0.21. The results of the panel vector error correction model support the growth hypothesis that indicates long-run causality from secondary education to economic growth.
Human capital and economic growth. An exploration into the Italian regions (1891-2001)
During the last fifty years human capital has won a prominent candidature as one of the main sources of economic growth, although its relevance has not always been proven. 1 Few years after the notion of human capital had made its appearance in the economic literature (Schultz 1960, Becker 1964), economic historians began to investigate the relation between the spread of mass education and the development of the Western world (Cipolla 1969).
This paper explores the impact of human capital on the productivity, income and life expectancy growth rates of the Italian regions, from 1891 to 2001, by way of conditional regression models. After comparing different indicators, human capital is approximated through a composite indicator of literacy and schooling, named ‘education’; however, changes on the way human capital is measured do not affect the results of the model. The impact of human capital on growth was not uniform over time, varying of intensity and significance according to both the dependant variable and the historical periods. While negligible for life expectancy, in both the cases of income and productivity, it was relevant during the 1891-1911 years, decisive in the 1911-1951 period; statistically not significant in the 1951-1971 interval, again relevant during the 1971-2001 period. Generally speaking the expected role of human capital on the performance of the Italian regions is confirmed, and so its negative impact on Southern Italy disappointing growth, also on the long run. Yet human capital was really decisive only when internal mobility of labour and capital and international openness were both at a minimum, during the 1911-1951 years. In the remaining periods other factors – such as overseas migration during the 1891-1911 years – seem to have counterbalanced or even reversed its impact.