IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i6p1790-d216923.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of Higher Education Levels on Total Factor Productivity Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Jie Liu

    (School of Humanities, Economics and Laws, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China)

  • Chao Bi

    (International Business School, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China)

Abstract

China is facing challenges to sustainable economic growth. Higher education of Chinese residents can affect total factor productivity (TFP) growth and hence has an influence on economic sustainability. However, currently, there is limited literature on the nexus between higher education and TFP in China. Therefore, this paper empirically analyzes the heterogeneous and spatial effect of higher education on the regional TFP growth using a dynamic spatial econometric model with provincial panel data from 2003 to 2016. The results indicate that different levels of higher education have significant effects on TFP growth and are mainly reflected in the spatial spillover effect. Bachelor and doctoral education (particularly doctoral education) demonstrated significant positive effects, whereas the technical school and master education had significant negative effects. When decomposing this effect into technical efficiency and technical progress to explore the mechanism of influences, the latter plays the major role. Therefore, the Chinese government can promote TFP growth and economic sustainability by expanding the scale of bachelor and doctoral education and improving the quality of technical and master education.

Suggested Citation

  • Jie Liu & Chao Bi, 2019. "Effects of Higher Education Levels on Total Factor Productivity Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-12, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:6:p:1790-:d:216923
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/6/1790/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/6/1790/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. M Ensar Yesilyurt & J Paul Elhorst, 2017. "Impacts of neighboring countries on military expenditures," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 54(6), pages 777-790, November.
    2. Karl Skogstad, 2016. "Defence budgets in the post-Cold War era: a spatial econometrics approach," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 323-352, June.
    3. Conley, Timothy G & Ligon, Ethan, 2002. "Economic Distance and Cross-Country Spillovers," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 157-187, June.
    4. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Issues in Assessing the Contribution of Research and Development to Productivity Growth," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 17-45, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. M. Dolores Ugarte, 2011. "Introduction to Spatial Econometrics," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 174(2), pages 513-514, April.
    6. Wolff, Edward N, 2001. "The Role of Education in the Postwar Productivity Convergence among OECD Countries," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 10(3), pages 735-759, September.
    7. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    8. Diego Firmino Costa da Silva & J. Paul Elhorst & Raul da Mota Silveira Neto, 2017. "Urban and rural population growth in a spatial panel of municipalities," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(6), pages 894-908, June.
    9. Qaisar Abbas, 2000. "The Role of Human Capital in Economic Growth: A Comparative Study of Pakistan and India," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 39(4), pages 451-473.
    10. Eric A. Hanushek, 2016. "Will more higher education improve economic growth?," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 32(4), pages 538-552.
    11. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    12. Qu, Xi & Lee, Lung-fei & Yu, Jihai, 2017. "QML estimation of spatial dynamic panel data models with endogenous time varying spatial weights matrices," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 197(2), pages 173-201.
    13. Jerik Hanushek & Dennis Kimko, 2006. "Schooling, Labor-force Quality, and the Growth of Nations," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 1, pages 154-193.
    14. Feng, Chao & Wang, Miao & Liu, Guan-Chun & Huang, Jian-Bai, 2017. "Sources of economic growth in China from 2000–2013 and its further sustainable growth path: A three-hierarchy meta-frontier data envelopment analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 334-348.
    15. Birdsall, Nancy, 1996. "Public spending on higher education in developing countries: Too much or too little?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 407-419, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fernando C√°rdenas Echeverri & Andres GarcÔøΩa-Suaza & Juan Esteban Garzon Restrepo, 2023. "Revisiting the relationship between firm strategic capabilities and productivity in a multilevel analysis: Do labor market conditions matter?," Documentos de Trabajo 20641, Universidad del Rosario.
    2. Harman Preet Singh & Ajay Singh & Fakhre Alam & Vikas Agrawal, 2022. "Impact of Sustainable Development Goals on Economic Growth in Saudi Arabia: Role of Education and Training," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-25, October.
    3. Frank Bannor & Isaiah Hubert Magambo & Jugal Mahabir & Jeanluc Mubenga Tshitaka, 2023. "Interdependence between climate change and migration: Does agriculture, geography, and development level matter in sub‐Saharan Africa?," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 91(2), pages 141-160, June.
    4. Bai, Xuejie & Sun, Xianzhen & Chiu, Yung-Ho, 2020. "Does China's higher education investment play a role in industrial growth?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Shaohua Zhang & Tzu-Pu Chang & Li-Chuan Liao, 2020. "A Dual Challenge in China’s Sustainable Total Factor Productivity Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-17, July.
    6. Sakiru Adebola Solarin & Pritish Kumar Sahu, 2024. "The effect of research intensity on total factor productivity in OECD countries during 1890–2018: evidence from a new Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood estimation approach," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 2389-2412, June.
    7. Vivian Thuso Molaodi, 2022. "Assessing the effect of education levels on economic growth in South Africa," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 11(10), pages 366-374, December.
    8. Hao Yao & Xiulin Gu & Qing Yu, 2023. "Impact of Graduate Student Expansion and Innovative Human Capital on Green Total Factor Productivity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-15, January.
    9. Espoir, Delphin Kamanda & Sunge, Regret, 2021. "CO₂ Emissions and Economic Development in Africa: Evidence from A Dynamic Spatial Panel Model," EconStor Preprints 234131, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wolfgang Keller, 2004. "International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 752-782, September.
    2. Gong, Guan & Keller, Wolfgang, 2003. "Convergence and polarization in global income levels: a review of recent results on the role of international technology diffusion," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1055-1079, June.
    3. Sheremeta, Roman & Smith, Vernon, 2017. "The Impact of the Reformation on the Economic Development of Western Europe," MPRA Paper 87220, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Rogers, Mark Llewellyn, 2008. "Directly unproductive schooling: How country characteristics affect the impact of schooling on growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 356-385, February.
    5. GUILLAIN, Rachel & HURIOT, Jean-Marie, 1999. "How information shapes cities: theory and facts," LATEC - Document de travail - Economie (1991-2003) 1999-05, LATEC, Laboratoire d'Analyse et des Techniques EConomiques, CNRS UMR 5118, Université de Bourgogne.
    6. Cui, Dan & Wei, Xiang & Wu, Dianting & Cui, Nana & Nijkamp, Peter, 2019. "Leisure time and labor productivity: A new economic view rooted from sociological perspective," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 13, pages 1-24.
    7. Ralph Hippe & Roger Fouquet, 2024. "The Human Capital Transition and the Role of Policy," Springer Books, in: Claude Diebolt & Michael Haupert (ed.), Handbook of Cliometrics, edition 3, pages 411-457, Springer.
    8. Fulvio Castellacci, 2007. "Technological regimes and sectoral differences in productivity growth ," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(6), pages 1105-1145, December.
    9. Javier García-Estévez & Néstor Duch-Brown, 2012. "Student graduation: to what extent does university expenditure matter?," Working Papers 2012/4, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    10. Michael Peneder & Karl Aiginger & Gernot Hutschenreiter & Markus Marterbauer, 2001. "Structural Change and Economic Growth," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 20668.
    11. Capolupo, Rosa, 2009. "The New Growth Theories and Their Empirics after Twenty Years," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-72.
    12. Abdul Wahab, Abdul Azeez Oluwanisola & Kefeli, Zurina & Hashim, Nurhazirah, 2018. "Investigating The Dynamic Effect of Healthcare Expenditure and Education Expenditure On Economic Growth in Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC)," MPRA Paper 90338, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 19 Oct 2018.
    13. Paul M. Romer, 1994. "The Origins of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 3-22, Winter.
    14. Rosa Capolupo, 2005. "THE NEW GROWTH THEORIES AND THEIR EMPIRICS, Discussion Paper in Economics, University of Glasgow, N. 2005-04 (http://www.gla.ac.uk/Acad/Economics," GE, Growth, Math methods 0506003, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Voxi Heinrich Amavilah & Antonio Rodríguez Andrés, 2024. "Knowledge Economy and the Economic Performance of African Countries: A Seemingly Unrelated and Recursive Approach," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 110-143, March.
    16. Stadler, Manfred, 2015. "Innovation, industrial dynamics and economic growth," University of Tübingen Working Papers in Business and Economics 84, University of Tuebingen, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, School of Business and Economics.
    17. Eftimoski, Dimitar, 2022. "On the inconclusive effect of human capital on growth: A new look at extended specifications," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 708-727.
    18. Cem Ertur & Wilfried Koch, 2007. "Growth, technological interdependence and spatial externalities: theory and evidence," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(6), pages 1033-1062.
    19. John Beirne & Nauro F. Campos, 2007. "Educational inputs and outcomes before the transition from communism," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 15(1), pages 57-76, January.
    20. Carlos Bethencourt & Fernando Perera-Tallo, 2024. "Public sector and human capital: on the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 1-66, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:6:p:1790-:d:216923. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.