Does the diversity of human capital increase GDP? A comparison of education systems

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Public Economics
Year: 2009
Volume: 93
Issue: 7-8
Pages: 998-1007

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper examines how different education systems affect GDP by influencing the diversity of human capital. We construct an overlapping generation model in which agents are heterogeneous in income and innate ability, and the final goods are produced with differentiated intermediate goods. It is shown that under a realistic condition, the diversity of human capital induced by income inequality always lowers the GDP of the next period, while the diversity of human capital induced by heterogeneous ability can increase GDP, if the produced intermediate goods are sufficiently substitutable and firms have a large span of control. Hence, as public education equalizes education resources across households, it mitigates the negative effect of income inequality on GDP, while the effects of ability tracking crucially depend on the production structure of the economy.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:pubeco:v:93:y:2009:i:7-8:p:998-1007
Journal Field
Public
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29