Depreciation of human capital: a sectoral analysis in OECD countries

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate which sectors are more vulnerable to human capital depreciation, with an emphasis on potential differences in skills and in ICT intensities. Design/methodology/approach The authors estimate an extended Mincerian earnings equation based on Neuman and Weiss’s (1995) model using the EU-KLEMS international database for 15 sectors for the period from 1980 to 2005. The authors also test structural ruptures in earnings and human capital depreciation in the labor market per decade controlling by technological intensity. Findings Human capital depreciation ranges from 1 to 6 percent. It is mainly significant in skill-intensive sectors regardless of the sector’s technological intensity. The analysis of structural breaks shows that human capital value indeed changed from decade to decade. It even appreciated in low skill-intensive sectors in the 1980s and in the high skill-intensive during the 1990s. Appreciation though, was mainly skill-biased. Research limitations/implications Information about on-the-job-training and non-cognitive skills that can also affect human capital depreciation are not included due to lack of data. Practical implications To prevent human capital from depreciating in particular sectors and periods educational systems should provide the tools for ongoing lifelong learning at all skills levels. Education is subject to dynamic effects that should be addressed to increase the potential benefits of technological change. Originality/value First, instead of using cross-section analysis which is considered to be a pitfall in studying the depreciation of knowledge, the authors observe its dynamic on a longitudinal basis. Second, the international macro-sectoral approach goes beyond limited micro-sectoral analysis in certain countries

Ict use and successful learning: the role of the stock of human capital

Previous empirical studies have found a weak nexus between the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for learning and students’ outcomes. However, this literature has not considered the role that the countries’ stock of human capital can have in the successful use of ICT for learning. In this paper, we test empirically the existence of complementarities between human capital and technology adoption for learning. We carry out an empirical analysis with PISA data from a large-scale sample of 363,412 students enrolled in 13,215 schools in 48 countries. We estimate a hierarchical linear model (HLM) of three levels: students, schools, and countries. Our results strongly support the evidence of a positive externality of the stock of human capital on ICT use for learning. When we consider the moderator-effect of the stock of human capital, we find that the negative outcome of ICT use on students’ outcomes in mathematics, reading and science turns positive (greater and more positive the higher the stocks of human capital are). The greater the stock of human capital an economy has, the more benefits it can get from investments in ICT for learning

The 2008 Chilean pension reform: Household financial decisions and gender differences

We evaluate the effect of the 2008 pension reform in Chile, applying a difference-in-difference estimation method to longitudinal survey data representative of the Chilean population. Our evidence suggests that those who started to receive a basic pension increased their debt more than their assets. We interpret this as an indicator of debt sustainability. The debt ratio increased significantly more for women, who may be particularly exposed to financial crises. The results raise concerns about the potential financial vulnerability of the population targeted by the reform, due to over-indebtedness

A Proposal of Spatial Measurement of Peer Effect through Socioeconomic Indices and Unsatisfied Basic Needs

This paper investigates peer effects in the academic achievement of Costa Rican students. Two measures of peer effects are used: (1) a measure of a schools’ average socioeconomic status and (2) a measure of unsatisfied basic needs at district level. The estimation of a three-level hierarchical model allows us to deal with selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity. Results show that socioeconomic peer effect, both at school and district levels, positively and significantly correlates with academic achievement. An increase in one standard deviation in the socioeconomic index has the same effect on academic achievement as an additional year of schooling; two years if the improvement occurs in the index of unsatisfied basic needs. These results are robust for mathematics, reading and science. Results from quantile regression reveal that students with high academic achievement take greater advantages from studying in schools with higher socioeconomic status (mathematics and reading). Meanwhile, students with low academic achievement are the most affected by studying in poorer districts (mathematics and science). These results show the strong feedback between educational and social inequit

The use of decomposition methods to understand the economic growth gap between Latin America and east Asia

Understanding how growth factors contribute to explaining the large differences in growth rates across countries remains an important research agenda. The common approach to exploring this issue is based on the use of multiple linear regression analyses. This work contributes to growth literature by applying a new perspective based on the use of variance decomposition procedures: Shapley–Owen–Shorrocks and Oaxaca–Blinder. These methodologies have four main advantages with respect to traditional methodologies: they make possible the quantification of the relative contribution of each factor to economic growth, they allow us to estimate the efficiency in the use of the endowments of each factor, they can be used with any functional form and they can be used with estimation methods that are robust regarding endogeneity issues. We illustrate these advantages by analyzing the causes of the economic growth gap between Latin America and East Asia over the period 1980–2014. We find that the economic growth divergence between the two regions can be primarily explained by the differences in institutions and physical capital. In addition, the results indicate that the higher East Asian performance is not only due to its higher levels of endowments in these factors, but also to the higher efficiency in its use. We connect our results with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

A Proposal of Spatial Measurement of Peer Effect through Socioeconomic Indices and Unsatisfied Basic Needs

[EN] This paper investigates peer effects in the academic achievement of Costa Rican students. Two measures of peer effects are used: (1) a measure of a schools’ average socioeconomic status and (2) a measure of unsatisfied basic needs at district level. The estimation of a three-level hierarchical model allows us to deal with selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity. Results show that socioeconomic peer effect, both at school and district levels, positively and significantly correlates with academic achievement. An increase in one standard deviation in the socioeconomic index has the same effect on academic achievement as an additional year of schooling; two years if the improvement occurs in the index of unsatisfied basic needs. These results are robust for mathematics, reading and science. Results from quantile regression reveal that students with high academic achievement take greater advantages from studying in schools with higher socioeconomic status (mathematics and reading). Meanwhile, students with low academic achievement are the most affected by studying in poorer districts (mathematics and science). These results show the strong feedback between educational and social inequity and constitute a good example of how poverty traps can persist in developing countries.S

Differences in total factor productivity growth in the European Union: the role of human capital by income level

This article applies Oaxaca-Blinder and Shorrocks-Shapley decomposition techniques to a logistic diffusion model in order to explain the differences in Total Factor Productivity Growth (TFPG) in European Union (EU) countries for the period 1950–2011. Human capital has a dual positive effect on TFPG by boosting innovation and increasing the catch-up capacity of countries to absorb and imitate foreign technologies. Our results show that there are statistically significant differences in the intensity of these effects between high and low average income EU countries, while there are not between euro and non-euro countries. The mean difference in technical change between high and low-income EU countries is largely the result of three factors. The first is the higher average foreign technology assimilation capacity of low income countries. This is particularly true because they are further from the technological frontier and are able to benefit from the advantage of backwardness. The second is the higher direct effect of human capital on technical change in these countries, while the third factor is the higher slowdown role of proximity in them

The use of decomposition methods to understand the economic growth gap between latin america and east asia

[EN] Understanding how growth factors contribute to explaining the large differences in growth rates across countries remains an important research agenda. The common approach to exploring this issue is based on the use of multiple linear regression analyses. This work contributes to growth literature by applying a new perspective based on the use of variance decomposition procedures: Shapley–Owen–Shorrocks and Oaxaca–Blinder. These methodologies have four main advantages with respect to traditional methodologies: they make possible the quantification of the relative contribution of each factor to economic growth, they allow us to estimate the efficiency in the use of the endowments of each factor, they can be used with any functional form and they can be used with estimation methods that are robust regarding endogeneity issues. We illustrate these advantages by analyzing the causes of the economic growth gap between Latin America and East Asia over the period 1980–2014. We find that the economic growth divergence between the two regions can be primarily explained by the differences in institutions and physical capital. In addition, the results indicate that the higher East Asian performance is not only due to its higher levels of endowments in these factors, but also to the higher efficiency in its use. We connect our results with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.S

Are homicide and drug trafficking linked to peer physical victimization in Costa Rican schools?

[EN] Objective: This study investigates the connection between crime rates and victimization by peer physical aggression in Costa Rican schools. Although previous research has demonstrated that peer victimization is related to community crime, no study to date has examined its association with homicides and drug trafficking, two criminal offenses that are key in Latin America. Method: We combined information on crime rates and socioeconomic characteristics at the district level with the data on peer physical victimization, school climate and characteristics of student-teacher relationships, retrieved from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) questionnaire. In total, 6,866 adolescents were surveyed, with an average age of 15 years, attending 205 schools, located in 154 districts. In the estimated probit model, the introduction of a variable representing districts’ social development and of fixed effects, at school and district levels, helped us to deal with unobserved heterogeneity. Results: We found that attending schools situated in districts with higher homicide rates and cocaine confiscations increase the probability of suffering victimization by peer physical aggression at school, while attending schools with high economic, social and cultural status, that offer sports activities for students and which were situated in the districts with a high level of social development, decrease the possibility of peer physical victimization. Conclusions: These results suggest that interventions beyond school level are needed to ensure the safety of students inside of schools and thus effective preventive programs should address crime at the neighborhood levelSIThis work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades del Gobierno de España [research project number EDU2016-76414-R] and the Gobierno de Aragón [research project number S44_20R: SEIM]. They provided the funds to finance the article review process and proofreading. We wish to express our gratitude to the members of the Estado de la Educación program, in Costa Rica, for their valuable ideas and technical suppor

ICT use for learning and students' outcomes: Does the country's development level matter?

The use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in educational systems has become a policy priority over the last decades. However, empirical evidence is inconclusive on whether there is a positive relationship between ICT use and students' outcomes. The literature has largely ignored the role that the country context, and in particular the country's development level, may play in shaping this relationship. This paper empirically addresses whether the relationship between ICT use for learning at school and students' outcomes differs from developed to developing countries. We employ data for 236,540 students attending 10,193 schools in 44 countries, obtained from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2018). We use two alternative measures to classify the countries by their development level: The Gross National Income (GNI) per capita and the Human Development Index (HDI). The estimations, based on a Hierarchical Linear Model, show a negative relationship between ICT use for learning at school and students' outcomes. This negative relationship is more intense for students from developing countries than for those from developed countries. These findings imply that policymakers should be cautious about replicating interventions and technological applications from developed to developing countries (and vice versa)