FDI, Human Capital and Income Convergence — Evidence for European Regions
Björn Jindra, Philipp Marek, Dominik Völlmecke
Economic Systems,
No. 2,
2016
Abstract
This study examines income convergence in regional GDP per capita for a sample of 269 regions within the European Union (EU) between 2003 and 2010. We use an endogenous broad capital model based on foreign direct investment (FDI) induced agglomeration economies and human capital. By applying a Markov chain approach to a new dataset that exploits micro-aggregated sub-national FDI statistics, the analysis provides insights into regional income growth dynamics within the EU. Our results indicate a weak process of overall income convergence across EU regions. This does not apply to the dynamics within Central and East European countries (CEECs), where we find indications of a poverty trap. In contrast to FDI, regional human capital seems to be associated with higher income levels. However, we identify a positive interaction of FDI and human capital in their relation with income growth dynamics.
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Young, Restless and Creative: Openness to Disruption and Creative Innovations
Daron Acemoglu, Ufuk Akcigit, Murat Alp Celik
NBER Working Paper,
No. 19894,
2015
Abstract
This paper argues that openness to new, unconventional and disruptive ideas has a first-order impact on creative innovations—innovations that break new ground in terms of knowledge creation. After presenting a motivating model focusing on the choice between incremental and radical innovation, and on how managers of different ages and human capital are sorted across different firms with different degrees of openness to disruption, we provide firm-level, patent level and cross-country evidence consistent with this pattern. Our measures of creative innovations proxy for innovation quality (average number of citations per patent) and creativity (fraction of superstar innovators, the likelihood of a very high number of citations, and generality of patents). Our main proxy for openness to disruption is the age of the manager - based on the idea that only companies or societies open to such disruption will allow the young to rise up within the hierarchy. Using this proxy at the firm, patent and country level, we present robust evidence that openness to disruption is associated with more creative innovations, but we also show that once the effect of the sorting of young managers to firms that are more open to disruption is factored in, the (causal) impact of manager age on creative innovations is small.
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Does Going Public Affect Innovation?
Shai B. Bernstein
Journal of Finance,
No. 4,
2015
Abstract
This paper investigates the effects of going public on innovation by comparing the innovation activity of firms that go public with firms that withdraw their initial public offering (IPO) filing and remain private. NASDAQ fluctuations during the book-building phase are used as an instrument for IPO completion. Using patent-based metrics, I find that the quality of internal innovation declines following the IPO, and firms experience both an exodus of skilled inventors and a decline in the productivity of the remaining inventors. However, public firms attract new human capital and acquire external innovation. The analysis reveals that going public changes firms' strategies in pursuing innovation.
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Ökonomisches Wachstum in Ostdeutschland seit der Wiedervereinigung: Eine empirische Perspektive
Maike Irrek
Hochschulschrift, Juristische und Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg,
2015
Abstract
Der schleppende Konvergenzprozess zwischen Ost- und Westdeutschland und der fortdauernde Produktivitätsrückstand der ostdeutschen Wirtschaft sind die Motivation einer Vielzahl an Studien und Analysen. Öffentliches Sachkapital und Humankapital spielen dabei eine wichtige Rolle. Es liegen jedoch keine passenden Zeitreihen vor, mit deren Hilfe die in der Literatur diskutierten Thesen in empirischen Untersuchungen überprüft werden könnten. Daher werden in der vorliegenden Dissertation das öffentliche und private Sachkapital sowie das Humankapital für Ost-und Westdeutschland geschätzt. Erst mit diesen Daten sind zudem genauere Schätzungen der Totalen Faktorproduktivität in beiden Regionen möglich.
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Returns to Skills around the World: Evidence from PIAAC
Eric A. Hanushek, Guido Schwerdt, Simon Wiederhold, Ludger Woessmann
European Economic Review,
January
2015
Abstract
Existing estimates of the labor-market returns to human capital give a distorted picture of the role of skills across different economies. International comparisons of earnings analyses rely almost exclusively on school attainment measures of human capital, and evidence incorporating direct measures of cognitive skills is mostly restricted to early-career workers in the United States. Analysis of the new PIAAC survey of adult skills over the full lifecycle in 23 countries shows that the focus on early-career earnings leads to underestimating the lifetime returns to skills by about one quarter. On average, a one-standard-deviation increase in numeracy skills is associated with an 18 percent wage increase among prime-age workers. But this masks considerable heterogeneity across countries. Eight countries, including all Nordic countries, have returns between 12 and 15 percent, while six are above 21 percent with the largest return being 28 percent in the United States. Estimates are remarkably robust to different earnings and skill measures, additional controls, and various subgroups. Instrumental-variable models that use skill variation stemming from school attainment, parental education, or compulsory-schooling laws provide even higher estimates. Intriguingly, returns to skills are systematically lower in countries with higher union density, stricter employment protection, and larger public-sector shares.
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Kommentar: Betriebsgrößenstruktur und Arbeitsmarktergebnisse
Steffen Müller
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 5,
2014
Abstract
Trotz aller Fortschritte bei der wirtschaftlichen Angleichung Ost- und Westdeutschlands seit der Vereinigung wird in der öffentlichen Debatte häufig auf fortbestehende Unterschiede bei Löhnen und Arbeitsproduktivität verwiesen. Als Erklärung hierfür wird der vergleichsweise geringe Anteil großer und damit in der Regel auch produktiverer und besser zahlender Betriebe in Ostdeutschland angeführt. Die Größe eines Betriebes ist jedoch – von möglichen Skalenerträgen einmal abgesehen – für sich genommen kein Bestimmungsfaktor für ökonomische Prosperität. Für das Verständnis der Folgen einer kleinteilig organisierten Wirtschaft muss geklärt werden, über welche Mechanismen die Betriebsgrößenstruktur auf Löhne und Arbeitsproduktivität wirkt.
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Do Better Pre-migration Skills Accelerate Immigrants' Wage Assimilation?
Boris Hirsch, Elke J. Jahn, Ott Toomet, Daniela Hochfellner
Labour Economics,
2014
Abstract
This paper analyzes wage assimilation of ethnic German immigrants to Germany using unique administrative data that include an administrative estimate of immigrants' expected wage in Germany at the time of migration. We find that a 10% higher wage potential translates into a 1.6% higher wage in Germany when also controlling for educational attainment, thus pointing at partial transferability of pre-migration skills to the host country's labor market. We also document that wage assimilation is significantly accelerated for immigrants with higher wage potentials. Our results are both in line with complementarities between pre-migration skills and host country-specific human capital and a U-shaped pattern of immigrants' job mobility with initial downgrading and subsequent upgrading.
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Socially Gainful Gender Quotas
Walter Hyll, Oded Stark
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization,
No. 105,
2014
Abstract
We study the impact of gender quotas on the acquisition of human capital. We assume that individuals’ formation of human capital is influenced by the prospect of landing high-pay top positions, and that these positions are regulated by gender-specific quotas. In the absence of quotas, women consider their chances of getting top positions to be lower than men’s. The lure of top positions induces even men of relatively low ability to engage in human capital formation, whereas women of relatively high ability do not expect to get top positions and do not therefore engage in human capital formation. Gender quotas discourage men who are less efficient in forming human capital, and encourage women who are more efficient in forming human capital. We provide a condition under which the net result of the institution of gender quotas is an increase in human capital in the economy as a whole.
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Subsidized Vocational Training: Stepping Stone or Trap? – Assessing Empirical Effects using Matching Techniques
Eva Dettmann, Jutta Günther
Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics,
No. 4,
2013
Abstract
Using replacement matching on the basis of a statistical distance function we try to answer the question of whether subsidized vocational training is related to a negative image effect for the graduates. The results show that young people with equal qualifications acquired during subsidized vocational training are disadvantaged solely due to the kind of education they have received. The probability of finding adequate employment is lower than in the control group. Besides the 'general effect' of support we also find less favorable job opportunities for those who attended 'external' as compared to 'workplace-related' training.
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Bildungsbeteiligung
Mirko Titze, Matthias Brachert
Peer Pasternack (ed.), Regional gekoppelte Hochschulen. Die Potenziale von Forschung und Lehre für demografisch herausgeforderte Regionen. Institut für Hochschulforschung (HoF): Wittenberg,
2013
Abstract
Gut qualifizierte Erwerbspersonen sind eine Voraussetzung für die internationale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit einer Region. Daraus leitet sich die Bildungsfunktion der Hochschulen ab. In welchem Ausmaß Kapazitäten für die Bildungsfunktion eingeplant werden müssen, hängt unter anderem von der Anzahl der Studienanfänger und der Betreuungsrelation ab. Wir betrachten dies hier für sechs exemplarische Raumordnungsregionen in west- und ostdeutschen Bundesländern.
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