Impact of Graduate Student Expansion and Innovative Human Capital on Green Total Factor Productivity

Hao Yao, Xiulin Gu () and Qing Yu ()
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Hao Yao: Institute of Higher Education, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Xiulin Gu: School of Education, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Qing Yu: School of Education, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: Using data from 30 provinces and cities in China from 2005–2018, panel regression models, mediation models, quantile regressions and threshold regressions were used to examine the relationship between graduate student size expansion, innovative human capital and green total factor productivity (GTFP) and analyze the influence mechanisms and heterogeneity among them. The results of the study are as follows: First, graduate student expansion and innovative human capital are the driving force for GTFP growth in China, and graduate student size expansion indirectly boosts GTFP by promoting the supply of innovative human capital, with a 73% mediating effect. Second, the effects of graduate student expansion and innovative human capital on GTFP show a trend of diminishing marginal benefits, and the estimated coefficient of the effect of graduate student scale share on GTFP has an inverted U-shaped relationship. Third, there is a significant threshold feature of industrial structure upgrading in the influence of graduate student scale expansion on GTFP. The study makes suggestions in terms of expanding of the graduate students, rationalizing the enrollment structure of universities, optimizing the regional industrial structure and creating a social innovation environment.

Keywords: graduate student expansion; innovative human capital; GTFP; threshold effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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