IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0333784.html

Human capital’s dual impact: Advancing innovation and technology diffusion in ASEAN-5 through the Nelson-Phelps-Romer Lens

Author

Listed:
  • Nguyen Ngoc Thach

Abstract

The advanced ASEAN nations—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand—are navigating significant global uncertainties that challenge their industrialization ambitions. Human capital, recognized as a pivotal driver of technological progress, has not been adequately integrated into growth models for these countries. This study investigates the dual function of human capital within an extended Nelson-Phelps framework of technology diffusion, incorporating Romer’s insights, across these five ASEAN countries from 1965 to 2019. Employing a Bayesian hierarchical analysis with specific informative priors effectively addresses statistical challenges. The findings reveal that human capital accelerates both domestic innovation and the adoption of foreign technologies in these nations. Notably, high-skilled labor significantly contributes to technological advancements, and domestic innovation plays a more substantial role in enhancing productivity growth than technology imitation. The extended Nelson-Phelps framework, which incorporates human capital’s role in both innovation and technology diffusion, is well-suited for modeling the catch-up development of ASEAN economies. These insights offer valuable contributions to growth literature and practical applications in technology catch-up strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Nguyen Ngoc Thach, 2025. "Human capital’s dual impact: Advancing innovation and technology diffusion in ASEAN-5 through the Nelson-Phelps-Romer Lens," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(11), pages 1-24, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0333784
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0333784
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0333784
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0333784&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0333784?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Segerstrom, Paul S, 1991. "Innovation, Imitation, and Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(4), pages 807-827, August.
    2. Howitt, Peter & Mayer-Foulkes, David, 2005. "R&D, Implementation, and Stagnation: A Schumpeterian Theory of Convergence Clubs," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(1), pages 147-177, February.
    3. Nadiri, M.I. & Kim, S., 1996. "International R&D Spillovers, Trade and Productivity in Major OECD Countries," Working Papers 96-35, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
    4. Alwyn Young, 1994. "The Tyranny of Numbers: Confronting the Statistical Realities of the East Asian Growth Experience," NBER Working Papers 4680, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Rinki Ito, 2023. "Centrality in Production Networks and International Technology Diffusion," Papers 2306.06680, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2023.
    6. Young, Alwyn, 1994. "Lessons from the East Asian NICS: A contrarian view," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(3-4), pages 964-973, April.
    7. Peter J. Klenow & Andrés Rodríguez-Clare, 1997. "The Neoclassical Revival in Growth Economics: Has It Gone Too Far?," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1997, Volume 12, pages 73-114, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Pesaran, M. Hashem & Smith, Ron P., 2019. "A Bayesian analysis of linear regression models with highly collinear regressors," Econometrics and Statistics, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 1-21.
    9. Eaton, Jonathan & Kortum, Samuel, 1996. "Trade in ideas Patenting and productivity in the OECD," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-4), pages 251-278, May.
    10. M. Ishaq Nadiri & Seongjun Kim, 1996. "International R&D Spillovers, Trade and Productivity in Major OECD Countries," NBER Working Papers 5801, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Barro, Robert J & Sala-i-Martin, Xavier, 1997. "Technological Diffusion, Convergence, and Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-26, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Jess Benhabib & Mark M. Spiegel, 2002. "Human capital and technology diffusion," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue nov.
    2. repec:awi:wpaper:0480 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Andreas Irmen, 2008. "Cross-Country Income Differences and Technology Diffusion in a Competitive World," CESifo Working Paper Series 2504, CESifo.
    4. 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.
    5. Benhabib, Jess & Spiegel, Mark M., 2005. "Human Capital and Technology Diffusion," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 13, pages 935-966, Elsevier.
    6. Klenow, Peter J. & Rodriguez-Clare, Andres, 1997. "Economic growth: A review essay," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 597-617, December.
    7. Wolfgang Keller, 2004. "International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 752-782, September.
    8. Wolfgang Keller, 2002. "Geographic Localization of International Technology Diffusion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 120-142, March.
    9. Rachel Griffith & Stephen Redding & John Van Reenen, 2004. "Mapping the Two Faces of R&D: Productivity Growth in a Panel of OECD Industries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(4), pages 883-895, November.
    10. Bravo-Ortega, Claudio & García Marín, Álvaro, 2011. "R&D and Productivity: A Two Way Avenue?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 1090-1107, July.
    11. Michael Peneder & Karl Aiginger & Gernot Hutschenreiter & Markus Marterbauer, 2001. "Structural Change and Economic Growth," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 20668, October.
    12. 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.
    13. Jess Benhabib & Jesse Perla & Christopher Tonetti, 2014. "Catch-up and fall-back through innovation and imitation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 1-35, March.
    14. Perez-Sebastian, Fidel, 2000. "Transitional dynamics in an R&D-based growth model with imitation: Comparing its predictions to the data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 437-461, April.
    15. Philippe Aghion & Peter Howitt & David Mayer-Foulkes, 2005. "The Effect of Financial Development on Convergence: Theory and Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(1), pages 173-222.
    16. Aghion, Philippe & Howitt, Peter, 2005. "Growth with Quality-Improving Innovations: An Integrated Framework," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 67-110, Elsevier.
    17. Perez-Sebastian, Fidel, 2007. "Public support to innovation and imitation in a non-scale growth model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 3791-3821, December.
    18. Fidel Pérez Sebastián, 2001. "Growth And Public Support To Innovation And Imitation," Working Papers. Serie AD 2001-31, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    19. Peter Howitt, 2004. "Endogenous Growth, Productivity and Economic Policy: A Progress Report," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 8, pages 3-15, Spring.
    20. Kopp, Andreas, 2000. "City size distribution and growth," HWWA Discussion Papers 97, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    21. Sung Jin Kang, 2000. "Relative Backwardness and Technological Catching Up with Scale Effects," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 0407, Econometric Society.

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0333784. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.