A new macroeconomic measure of human capital with strong empirical links to productivity

Jarmila Botev, Balázs Égert, Zuzana Smidova and David Turner

No 1575, OECD Economics Department Working Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: This paper calculates new measures of human capital. Contrary to the existing literature, they are based on realistic rates of return to education, which are allowed to vary substantially across countries and to some extent over time. The new measures perform well in regression analysis explaining productivity across OECD countries and over time. In OECD samples, coefficient estimates are broadly consistent with the private returns underlying the construction of the new measures of human capital. In a wider sample of countries, most estimates imply additional positive social returns.

Keywords: human capital; mean years of schooling; OECD; productivity; returns to education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 I20 I26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-11-13
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-knm, nep-lab and nep-mac
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1575-en

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