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Does one size fit all? The impact of cognitive skills on economic growth

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  • Altinok, Nadir
  • Aydemir, Abdurrahman

Abstract

This paper tests for heterogeneous effects of cognitive skills on economic growth across countries. Using a new extended dataset on cognitive skills and controlling for potential endogeneity, we find that the magnitude of the effect is about 60% higher for low-income countries compared to high-income countries, and it more than doubles when low TFP countries are compared to high TFP countries. There are also marked differences across geographic regions. Using data on the share of the population with advanced and minimum skill levels, our results also indicate that high-income countries should focus on increasing the number of high skilled human capital, while countries from Sub-Saharan Africa would benefit more by investing in the development of basic skills.

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  • Altinok, Nadir & Aydemir, Abdurrahman, 2017. "Does one size fit all? The impact of cognitive skills on economic growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 176-190.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jmacro:v:53:y:2017:i:c:p:176-190
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmacro.2017.06.007
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    Cited by:

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    2. Dennis Ridley, 2021. "Capitalism/Democracy/Rule of Law Interactions and Implications for Entrepreneurship and Per Capita Real Gross Domestic Product Adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(1), pages 384-411, March.
    3. NAPO, Fousséni, 2018. "Capital humain, productivité manufacturière et croissance économique dans les pays de l’UEMOA [Human capital, manufacturing productivity and economic growth in WAEMU countries]," MPRA Paper 89450, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 12 Oct 2018.
    4. Campbell, Susanna G. & Üngör, Murat, 2020. "Revisiting human capital and aggregate income differences," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 43-64.
    5. Nadir Altinok & Claude Diebolt, 2024. "Cliometrics of learning-adjusted years of schooling: evidence from a new dataset," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 18(3), pages 691-764, September.
    6. Arun Jaitley, 2018. "Economic Survey 2017: Volume I, Chapter 5: Is there a “Late Converger Stall†in Economic Development? Can India Escape it?," Working Papers id:12444, eSocialSciences.
    7. Aditya Singh & Jaison A. Manjaly, 2022. "Using Curiosity to Improve Learning Outcomes in Schools," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440211, January.
    8. Hakan Yilmazkuday, 2013. "Inflation Thresholds and Growth," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 1-10, March.
    9. David SHAPIRO, 2017. "Linkages between Education and Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Paper 9fdf2602-7726-42b4-b168-8, Agence française de développement.
    10. Tafesse, Wiktoria, 2022. "The effect of Universal Salt Iodization on cognitive test scores in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    11. Hüseyin Taştan & Selin Erdoğan, 2018. "Cognitive skills and economic performance: evidence from the recent international student assessment tests," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(3), pages 417-449, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; Development; Africa; Cognitive skills; Growth; Heterogeneity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • N37 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Africa; Oceania
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

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