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Measuring Human Capital

Author

Listed:
  • Angrist,Noam
  • Djankov,Simeon
  • Goldberg,Pinelopi Koujianou
  • Patrinos,Harry Anthony

Abstract

Students around the world are going to school but are not learning -- an emerging gap in human capital formation. To understand this gap, this paper introduces a new data set measuring learning in 164 countries and territories. The data cover 98 percent of the world's population from 2000 to 2017. The data set will be publicly available and updated annually by the World Bank. The paper presents several stylized facts in a first application of the data: (a) although enrollment has increased worldwide, learning has stagnated; (b) girls outperform boys on learning -- a positive gender gap -- in contrast to a negative gender gap observed for schooling; (c) learning is associated with growth on a global scale; (d) associations with growth are heterogenous; and (e) human capital accounts for up to a third of cross-country income differences -- a middle ground in the recent development accounting literature. These stylized facts demonstrate the potential of the data to reveal new insights into the relationship between human capital and economic development.

Suggested Citation

  • Angrist,Noam & Djankov,Simeon & Goldberg,Pinelopi Koujianou & Patrinos,Harry Anthony, 2019. "Measuring Human Capital," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8742, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8742
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Erica Bosio & Simeon Djankov & Edward Glaeser & Andrei Shleifer, 2022. "Public Procurement in Law and Practice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(4), pages 1091-1117, April.
    2. Touhami Abdelkhalek & Dorothée Boccanfuso, 2022. "Human Capital Index (HCI) – from uncertainty to robustness of comparisons," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(28), pages 3246-3260, June.
    3. Noam Angrist & Peter Bergman & Moitshepi Matsheng, 2020. "School’s Out: Experimental Evidence on Limiting Learning Loss Using “Low-Tech” in a Pandemic," NBER Working Papers 28205, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Patrinos,Harry Anthony, 2020. "The Learning Challenge in the 21st Century," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9214, The World Bank.
    5. Larry Dwyer, 2022. "Productivity, Destination Performance, and Stakeholder Well-Being," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-16, July.
    6. de New, Sonja C. & Schurer, Stefanie & Sulzmaier, Dominique, 2021. "Gender differences in the lifecycle benefits of compulsory schooling policies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    7. Hartmut Lehmann & Aleksey Oshchepkov & Maria Giulia Silvagni, 2020. "Regional Convergence In Russia: Estimating A Neoclassical Growth Model," HSE Working papers WP BRP 232/EC/2020, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    8. Hansen, Henrik & Rand, John & Win, Ngu Wah, 2022. "The gender wage gap in Myanmar: Adding insult to injury?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality; Gender and Development; Social Capital; Global Environment; Coastal and Marine Resources; Energy and Natural Resources;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • P50 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - General

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