High Human Capital Research Articles

Can civilized city construction facilitate green total factor productivity? A quasi-natural experiment based on China’s pilot civilized city

This paper uses a double difference method to examine the impact of civilized city policies on urban green total factor productivity and its mechanism of action using Chinese city-level data from 2005 to 2021. The study finds that the civilized city policy promotes urban green development. The mechanism test finds that the civilized city policy achieves urban green development by strengthening government investment in environmental governance, optimizing industrial structure upgrading, and promoting urban innovation. The moderating mechanism finds that economic growth targets and environmental regulations influence the green growth effect of civilized city policy. Heterogeneity analysis found that the green growth effect of civilized cities has an asymmetric relationship in the east-central region, in areas with lower population density, and was more pronounced in cities with high human capital, high local government financial autonomy, and high levels of information technology.

Spatial spillover effects of green technology innovation and renewable energy on ecological sustainability: New evidence and analysis

AbstractRapid industrialization and modernization have drastically impaired ecological sustainability and increased ecological footprint (EFP). Despite the vital relevance of renewable energy (REC) and green technological innovation (GTI), in many facets of life, the part played by these factors and their spatial spillover effects in exploring ecological sustainability in EU countries has yet to be well studied. Thus, using a spatial panel econometric technique, this research investigates the direct and spillover effects of GTI and REC on ecological sustainability in 20 selected EU nations between 1995 and 2018. First, the empirical results affirm a positive spatial connection of EFP across nations, implying that employing spatial models can provide more trustworthy results than traditional econometric approaches. Second, both GTI and REC tend to significantly promote domestic ecological sustainability. Third, the environmental quality of EU countries benefit from the high GTI, REC, and human capital of their neighboring nations. Fourth, economic growth and financial globalization (FG) have a negative and significant effect on environmental quality. Other empirical analyses indicated that the indirect effect of FG on EFP is positive and significant. With a focus on the EU countries, this paper assists policymakers in developing a comprehensive strategy for enhancing ecological responsibility via renewable energy and green technology innovation.

Female education and social change

Does access to education facilitate the emergence of a human capital elite from which social activists, and thus, social change can emerge? Assembling a city-level panel of the political, intellectual, and economic elite throughout German history, we find that the opening of schools providing secondary education for women increased their representation among the human capital elite. These elites challenged the status quo and developed critical ideas that resonated in cities with higher human capital, connecting women to form a social movement. We find no evidence of other city-specific indicators of economic and gender-specific cultural change affecting our results. Differential returns to education are also unrelated to the increasing representation of women among the human capital elite, as the opening of gender-specific schools has no impact on the opposite gender.

Can rural cooperatives reduce poverty vulnerability of smallholder households? Evidence from rural Western China

IntroductionPoverty eradication is one of the global challenges, and rural cooperatives provide an effective path to address smallholder households’ poverty. However, the effect of poverty reduction can show heterogeneity depending on the economic capital, human capital, and social capital of households.MethodsBased on comprehensive research data on the poverty status of 1,622 smallholder households in four provinces in the less developed regions of western China, using OLS and PSM models, this paper empirically analyzes the impact and heterogeneous characteristics of rural cooperatives on the poverty vulnerability of smallholder households.Results/DiscussionThe results show that rural cooperatives have a significant dampening effect on the poverty vulnerability of smallholder farmers, and the findings hold true after robustness tests using multiple methods. The impact of rural cooperatives on the poverty vulnerability of farming households differed significantly across smallholder households with different characteristics. Specifically, participation in cooperatives had a more pronounced effect on reducing poverty vulnerability among non-poor, higher human capital and higher income farm households compared to poor, lower human capital and lower income farm households. The results of the study can provide a useful reference for policy-making on rural mutual assistance and poverty reduction among farmers.

Land titling, human capital misallocation, and agricultural productivity in China

Previous studies quantifying the relationship between land titles and agricultural productivity have not explored the role of human capital reallocation. This paper enhances existing literature by examining the effects of land titling on the reallocation of labor with heterogenous human capital endowments between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. In reference to China's county-by-county rollout of the land titling program, this paper applies a difference-in-differences (DID) framework and finds that farmers with higher human capital are more likely to migrate out of villages following the completion of the titling program, which in turn causes a “brain drain” from the agricultural sector. There is a subsequent decrease in agricultural productivity and output. This productivity loss has not been thoroughly discussed in previous studies and nor considered in the policy making process. Our results indicate that future land reforms should consider the impact of land titling programs on the reallocation of human capital across sectors.

Combined and distributional effects of EPL reduction and hiring incentives: an assessment using the Italian “Jobs Act”

After two decades of labour market reforms at the margin, the great recession created political scope to reduce the employment protection still benefitting the workers on open-ended contracts. To support employment levels, these policies have generally been combined with generous employment subsidies. While the theoretical and empirical literature on the two interventions taken in isolation appear generally abundant, almost nothing is known when they come combined. Analogously, no evidence is available on their distributional effects. This paper aims to fill these two gaps by means of counterfactual models estimated on high-frequency employer-employee-linked Italian data. Taking advantage of the quasi-experimental conditions created by the reforms enforced in Italy in 2015, we fit a (non-linear) difference-in-differences strategy into a competing risks duration model. We find prompt sensitivity of small firms to the incentives, while the large ones waited until they were combined with lower firing costs. Small firms substitute temporary for permanent employment, while larger ones do not seem inclined to forego fixed-term contracts, possibly for a probationary period. The reforms have benefitted domestic workers over foreigners, prime-age and older individuals over the young, and those with higher human capital. No gender effects emerge. Small firms operating in non-innovative sectors carry the bulk of heterogeneity effects. Finally, analysis on duration of newly activated open-ended contracts reveals a transitory effect, as separations jumped once the subsidies came to an end.

Organization capital and firm risks

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate how organization capital influences different forms of corporate risk. It also explores how the relationship between organization capital and risks varies in the cross-section of firms.Design/methodology/approachTo test the hypothesis, this study employs the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression model using a large sample of the United States (US) data over the 1981–2019 period. It also uses an instrumental variable approach and an errors-in-variables panel regression approach to mitigate endogeneity problems.FindingsThe empirical results show that organization capital is positively related to both idiosyncratic risk and total risk but negatively related to systematic risk. The cross-sectional analysis shows that the positive relationship between organization capital and idiosyncratic risk is significantly more pronounced for the subsample of firms with high information asymmetry and human capital. Moreover, the negative relationship between organization capital and systematic risk is significantly more pronounced for firms with greater efficiency and firms facing higher industry- and economy-wide risks.Practical implicationsThe findings have important implications for investors and policymakers. For example, since organization capital increases idiosyncratic risk and total risk but reduces systematic risk, investors should take organization capital into account in portfolio formation and risk management. Moreover, the findings lend support to the argument on the recognition of intangible assets in financial statements. In particular, the study suggests that standard-setting bodies should consider corporate reporting frameworks to incorporate the disclosure of intangible assets into financial statements, particularly given the recent surge of corporate intangible assets and their critical impact on corporate risks.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to adopt a large sample to provide systematic evidence on the relationship between organization capital and a wide range of risks at the firm level. The authors show that the effect of organization capital on firm risks differs remarkably depending on the kind of firm risk a particular risk measure captures. This study thus makes an original contribution to resolving competing views on the effect of organization capital on firm risks.

The State and Prospects of Human Capital Development of the LPR/DPR and Its Impact on the Economy of Donbass

The authors analyze the concept of human capital in its modern understanding. The article shows that high human capital does not provide significant rates of economic development but makes it possible to increase the welfare of citizens, GDP per capita, the volume of high-tech exports, as well as exports of services. The authors analyze human capital and human potential of the territories of LPR and DPR that joined Russia in 2022. It is shown that the regions have a fairly high human potential: residents of 4 new subjects of the Russian Federation are distinguished by a high level of happiness, they are characterized by developed traditional and labor values, work occupies a significant place in their lives. There is a high level of rejection of offenses. However, the study revealed a low level of interpersonal trust.

The impact of solar energy investment in multilateral development banks on technological innovation: Evidence from a multi-period DID method

Solar energy technology innovation plays a crucial role in achieving green and sustainable development and a low-carbon economy. The literature focuses on the economic and environmental effects of solar energy but ignores the role of solar energy investment in multilateral development banks (MDBs) on technological innovation. Using the panel data of 37 countries, including OECD countries and China, from 2006 to 2019, we adopt a multi-period DID model to empirically analyze the impact of solar energy investment in MDBs on technological innovation. The results show that solar energy investment in MDBs can significantly promote technological innovation, with the conclusion still being valid after conducting a series of robustness tests. The heterogeneity results indicate that the promoting effect of solar energy investment in MDBs on technological innovation is more significant in regions with higher human capital and higher innovation ability. The findings of this paper can be a useful addition to the literature on solar energy and technological innovation and serve as a useful reference for countries around the world as they accelerate solar energy investment and promote technological innovation.

Human and Social Capital Strategies for Mafia Network Disruption

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is an interdisciplinary science that focuses on discovering the patterns of individuals interactions. In particular, practitioners have used SNA to describe and analyze criminal networks to highlight subgroups, key actors, strengths and weaknesses in order to generate disruption interventions and crime prevention systems. In this paper, the effectiveness of a total of seven disruption strategies for two real Mafia networks is investigated adopting SNA tools. Three interventions targeting actors with a high level of social capital and three interventions targeting those with a high human capital are put to the test and compared between each other and with random node removal. Similar tests on artificial model networks have also been carried out. Simulations show that actor removal based on social capital proves to be the most effective strategy, by leading to the total disruption of the criminal network in the least number of steps. The removal of a specific figure of a Mafia family such as the Caporegime seems also promising in the network disruption.

The Concept of Human Capital

A key factor in China's economic success over the past 70 years has been the rapid and qualitative growth of human capital. The article examines the concept of human capital, the related elements of ancient Chinese culture, and explains the historical reasons why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has paid special attention to education and human capital. The findings show that the PRC's great achievements in human capital development and economic growth are due, on the one hand, to the CCP's emphasis on education, especially during the period of reform and opening up, and on the other hand, to the long-term influence of Chinese ancient Confucianism philosophy. In the past, academia attempted to explain the brief decline in the mid-nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries by the negative influence of Chinese traditional culture, while ignoring its role in providing high potential human capital, which in turn contributed to long-term economic growth. The ideas of China's leaders echo the theory of human capital put forward by European scholars. China is placing increasing emphasis on the economic function of education. The education sector is now seen as an important sector for raising scientific and cultural standards. Xi Jinping, the current leader of China, also attaches great importance to the inheritance and development of Confucian educational thought. In his speeches he repeatedly calls on young people to strengthen moral education and self-education. The priority of education is stressed, as well as the separate importance of the educational function of higher education. At a time when science and technology are developing rapidly without any constraints, they reduce the role of the human factor in the development of civilization to a certain extent. In this context, it may be appropriate to consider the value of the human being and the importance of education in the context of traditional oriental culture. Confucianism not only played a key role in the educational and economic development of Chinese society, but also had a wide impact on the countries of Southeast Asia.

Achieving good health with a low environmental footprint – A comparison of national indicators

Background Integrated metrics that account for resource use and human health are essential to help identify and support human development pathways that safeguard planetary health. We identify countries that achieved the highest levels of health and development at the lowest cost to Earth’s natural capital and report ecological within-country analyses of associations between indicators of environmental sustainability, human health, and development. Methods We used mixed-effects multiple linear regression models of Healthy Life Expectancy (HALE) and Human Capital (HC) related to Ecological Footprint (EF) and CO2 production emissions, controlling for Gini coefficient and population density applied to data of 216 countries from 1991-2016. We performed stratified analyses by country income level and used likelihood-ratio tests to test for interaction. Results Only Jamaica (1991) and Sri Lanka (2016) achieved high HALE at sustainable EF levels. Each 10% increase in EF was associated with 0·20 (95%CI 0·16,0·24) and 0·21 (95%CI 0·19,0·23) increases in HALE and HC respectively; increases in CO2 production emissions were also associated with increased HALE and HC. There was strong evidence for interaction by income level for each model (p<0·016). Stratified analyses showed that in high income nations HALE and HC decreased with increased levels of EF and CO2. Conclusions Countries with high health metrics at sustainable EF levels may offer valuable lessons for sustainable national development policies. Increased environmental footprint and CO2 emissions appear associated with higher levels of human health and development only up to a certain level of income.

Growing with inequality: a DSGE model with heterogeneous human capital and endogenous economic growth

ABSTRACT We try to explain the simultaneous increases in economic growth and income inequality in China with a heterogeneous endogenous growth-based DSGE model. It is found that: First, our model can simulate the positive correlation between economic growth and income inequality in China. China’s economic development has created better conditions and incentives for the accumulation of human capital of workers with high initial human capital, thus stimulating them to contribute more to economic growth, but this widens the income inequality simultaneously. Second, the change in economic growth and the change in income inequality also exhibit a positive correlation under the influence of various policy shock. Any shock that raises economic growth, such as different types of technology shock and investment shock (after 8 quarters), will correspondingly widen income inequality. Conversely, any shock that reduces economic growth, such as fiscal spending shock, interest rate shock and investment shock (before 8 quarters) will correspondingly reduce income inequality. Third, the government’s preference for workers with high initial human capital in the implementation of macroeconomic policies determines the positive correlation between the change in economic growth and in income inequality. Workers with high initial human capital are central to the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies.

Digital Rural Construction and Farmers’ Income Growth: Theoretical Mechanism and Micro Experience Based on Data from China

This study analyzes the effect of digital rural construction on farmers’ income growth and the underlying mechanism using a 2SLS instrumental variable approach based on the county digital village index developed by Peking University and AliResearch, as well as micro-survey data of farmers in China. After fully correcting for endogeneity and verifying the robustness of the models, we found that digital rural construction has a significant positive impact on farmers’ total household income, wage income, and property income, while also inhibiting the growth of net agricultural income. Furthermore, we found that digital rural construction increases farmers’ income mainly by promoting non-agricultural employment and asset transformation. In terms of heterogeneity analysis, digital rural construction has a greater effect on increasing farmers’ income with high physical and human capital, but it is not beneficial to farmers with moderate social capital. It also has a greater effect on increasing farmers’ income in villages with better infrastructure. In addition, digital rural construction more significantly increases farmers’ income in the eastern, central, and southern regions of China compared with the western and northern regions. These findings provide new empirical evidence of the effect of digital rural construction on farmers’ income growth in China and other developing countries.

What roles do high-growth small- and medium-sized enterprises play in a slow-growing region? The job diversity and inclusive growth in Incheon, South Korea

This study examines the labor market outcomes of high-growing incumbent small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Incheon during the 2013-2016 economic downturn. By using employee-employer matched panel data, this study found that only a small number of high-growth firms (HGFs) created the majority of new jobs, while other firms reduced their employees in response to the economic challenges. SME HGFs, on the whole, have a tendency to hire people with high human capital. However, a group of HGFs exhibits a different hiring pattern, specifically targeting marginalized individuals in the labor market. Micro-firms that show one time sharp growth are more likely to hire middle-aged unemployed women and provide them with secure and well paying positions. These findings highlight the significant role of incumbent micro-HGFs in job creation and inclusive growth, emphasizing the need for increased attention from policy circles.

From Unemployed to Business Owner: Learning through Experimentation.

Recent research in entrepreneurship has started to emphasize the view of entrepreneurship as experimentation, broadly understood as taking deliberate actions to reduce uncertainties concerning the viability of an idea. Building on this work, this paper employs unique, nationally representative data to examine the entrepreneurial process in an institutional context that offers protection against early failure and makes entrepreneurs more inclined to experiment after they found a venture. We document that entrepreneurs who transition into self-employment from unemployment engage in a greater number of both core and peripheral experimentation activities compared to other entrepreneurs. We also look at how individual characteristics influence the level of experimentation and find that there is more experimentation among individuals with higher human capital. The findings are robust to multiple alternative measures of experimentation. To validate that tolerance for failure is the main mechanism leading to experimentation, we look at an alternative pathway towards entrepreneurship that also offers insurance against failure— hybrid entrepreneurship--and find that both settings are associated with higher levels of experimentation. The study contributes to the literature by providing large-scale evidence for the link between tolerance for failure and experimentation. In doing so, it adopts a process view on entrepreneurial phenomena and gives complementary empirical insights on experimentation in terms of the actions entrepreneurs take in order to reduce the uncertainties of opportunity exploitation.

Job Titles and Mobility of Knowledge Workers

How do job titles affect an employee’s propensity for outward mobility? In high-tech contexts, firms are constantly at risk of losing their high quality human capital, such as inventors, due to an increasingly significant threat of employee poaching. Recruiters seek for credible quality signals to assess candidates, and job titles are the first piece of information available. In this paper, we study the role of job title ambiguity for knowledge workers’ mobility. Specifically, we whether ambiguous job titles may create a barrier to outward mobility for knowledge workers in markets with high risk of poaching. Ambiguous job titles may confuse prospective recruiters when they scan poaching targets; they exert more cognitive effort to make sense of the value of those candidates and, thus, are less likely to contact them for mobility opportunities. We utilize the resumes and patent data of 12,719 corporate inventors employed at 172 US corporations in the Information and Communication Technology industry between 2000 and 2014 to test our hypothesis. Our results indicate that individuals holding job titles associated with a high ambiguity are less likely to leave the firm. The result is robust to different measurement techniques of titles’ ambiguity. Our study highlights how job titles as a form of symbolic cues can constitute a meaningful barrier to poaching that complements existing human capital retaining tactics.

Mediation role of human capital on gender diversity and credit risk: Evidence of Indonesian rural banks

This study uses human capital that shows the intangible asset’s core in reducing the risk or improving firm performance to solve previous inconsistent results of women’s role in firm performance. Thus, this paper examines the role of human capital as the mediator in the influence of gender diversity on credit risk in a rural bank. This examination involves 433 rural banks based on the purposive sampling method. The result reveals that higher gender diversity has higher human capital (α = 0.135, ρ = 0.005) and higher human capital has lower credit risk (α = –0.205, ρ = 0.000). It also revealed that when gender diversity is controlled by human capital as a mediator on credit risk, gender diversity does not affect credit risk (α = –0.022, ρ = 0.625). However, human capital still affects credit risk (α = –0.205, ρ = 0.000). It implies that the higher a woman on the board of directors, the lower the credit risk through her education competence. Women as organization leaders have high self-appreciation from organization members in implementing their strategies and supervising them. High credit risk in rural banks needs appropriate management as a part of an internal governance mechanism. This study contributes to gender diversity literature through the ability to manage risk in measuring women’s role as strategic agents. This study also contributes to investor protection through the reputation of women on boards as monitoring agents.

Air Pollution and Migration Intention: Evidence from the Unified National Graduate Entrance Examination.

Using a unique dataset of applicants for the Unified National Graduate Entrance Examination (UNGEE) of 76 double first-class universities in China, this paper evaluates the causal impact of air pollution on the migration intentions of highly educated talents by exploiting an instrumental variable approach based on annually average wind speed. We find that a 1 ug/m3 increase in the annually average PM2.5 concentration in destination cities decreases the number of applicants for the UNGEE of elite universities by about 250, but better university quality and more abundant educational resources can weaken the effect partially. A heterogeneity analysis indicates that the university-city choices of applicants are shifting from north to south. Our findings suggest that air pollution may lead to the loss of high human capital.

Socio-economic development of marine ornamental reef fish fishers in eastern Sri Lanka through the lenses of Human Development Index

Marine ornamental reef (MOR) fishery in Sri Lanka expanded to the commercial level only after the 1950 s. Although MOR fishery is contributing significantly to the socio-economic development of the country, studies are scarce to assess the socio-economic status of fishers engaged in the fishery. The present study aimed to assess the socio-economic development of MOR fisher communities in the Trincomalee district, which is considered a hotspot for the MOR fishery in Sri Lanka through the lenses of the Human Development Index (HDI). Fisher communities associated with reefs at Sampur, Pulmodai and Kuchchaweli in Trincomalee were comprehensively studied focussing on full-time reef fishers (n = 90). Results indicated that the fisher income was several folds higher than the minimum monthly wage of workers in the country (10,000 LKR, ≈50 USD). Higher income gained by MOR fishers (30,000–300,000 LKR, ≈150–1500 USD) was conspicuously reflected by having high human, physical and health capital, all of which resulted from high financial capital. Income showed slight variations amongst communities based on the species being fished. Consequently, study communities held high Schooling Index (SI), Health System Index (HSI) and Economic index (EI) all of which are modified sub-indices of the common HDI. Human Development Index linked to Ornamental Fisheries (HDIOF) which is the weighted sum of SI, HIS and EI shows a medium level development in the MOR fisher communities at Trincomalee. The present study affirms that HDIOF is a promising indicator to elucidate the socio-economic status of the MOR fisher communities in Sri Lanka.