Human Capital as Barrier to Innovation: Post-Transition Experience

The paper addresses the question of human capital as constraint to innovation in post-transition economies. The analysis is performed both on the macroeconomic and microeconomic levels. Macroeconomic level encompasses discussion of available human capital and clustering of post-transition economies accordingly. Microeconomic analysis based on the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey confirms that innovative firms are more likely to perceive inadequate education of the workforce as severe obstacle to their business activities. In all analyzed clusters, the more innovative employers feel compelled to train their employees, the more likely they are to be dissatisfied with the education of the workforce.