Abstract
Research background: Countries with a similar background before 1990, in the communist bloc in Europe, have begun since the ‘90s to differentiate one from another in terms of development. Nowadays, in many aspects of the socio-economic environment, including welfare and labor productivity, the gaps between them are significant. Measurements done by World Bank Group through The Human Capital Project give us the opportunity to compare the achievements from the last 30 years of the ex-communist countries building strong democracies and open markets. Purpose of the article: The purpose of this paper is to identify the major gaps between 8 EU ex-communist countries in terms of human capital accumulation in the context of globalization – and the way the globalization fostered or suppressed the human development and human capital accumulation. Methods: We will do a comparative analysis of the indicators that the Human Capital Project are based on – life expectancy, expected years of schooling, quality of education and GDP/capita of the 8 EU ex-communist countries. Findings & Value added: This paper may add value to the economic and educational policies in the 8 EU ex-communist countries by identifying the policies that proved their effectiveness in generating higher labor productivity, policies that can be adapted and then adopted by the UE ex-communist countries that are less developed.
Highlights
Human capital consists of the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate throughout their lives, enabling them to realize their potential as productive members of society [1,2,3,4]
The current comparative analysis among the 8 EU ex-communist countries relies on: a) Human Capital Index raw data that can be found in the World Bank data catalogue [21]
Some countries have taken advantage of the EU talents brought inside the borders of the Union by the newest member states, while the EU policy in the field of education has encouraged mobilities
Summary
Human capital consists of the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate throughout their lives, enabling them to realize their potential as productive members of society [1,2,3,4]. We can end extreme poverty and create societies that are more inclusive by developing human capital. This requires investment in people through nutrition, health care, quality education, jobs and skills. The investment in human capital is among others, the only way to take advantage of the knowledge-based economy opportunities [5]. We are much more productive than a century ago because of the better technologies we have, but especially because of the richer know-how that the workforce has. These skills refer to more than just the ability to handle machines. The education and know-how of the workforce are those that generate the scientific knowledge on which our progress is built, and which facilitates the adaptation and adoption of these technologies in various branches of the economy. [3]
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