Human capital in the sustainable development of EU countries: A longitudinal data analysis

One of the prominent areas focused on identifying the key trends and factors of human capital formation for sustainable development in the EU countries is the use of panel data. This study specified the dependence of human capital in the EU countries on four factor attributes that affect its place and role in sustainable development using longitudinal data analysis. The methodological framework of this study included the econometric modelling toolkit for constructing multivariate regression equations of three types: pooled regression, fixed effects, and variable effects. To determine the parameters of multivariate regression equations, the study employed Eurostat statistics for 21 EU countries for 2013-2021, based on the completeness of the statistical indicators presented for the resultant and factor attributes and the incompleteness of such data for 2022-2024. For the three types of multivariate regression equations, the endogenous variable describing human capital is the number of students enrolled in higher education institutions in the EU and four exogenous variables. The analysis found that the best specification of the impact on human capital in the EU countries is an econometric model described by a multivariate fixed-effects regression equation. It includes three factor variables: total government spending on higher education, employment with higher education, and total environmental taxes. Considering the parameters of this equation, human capital in the sustainable development of EU countries depends on the situation on the labour market for highly skilled individuals, government policy in higher education, and environmental taxation. It was found that the values of the fixed effects for each of the EU countries are positive, specifying the differences in these countries in the formation of human capital. The multivariate regression equation of human capital in the EU countries will help to improve understanding of approaches to building partnerships in the EU countries for the implementation of sustainable development policy measures