Abstract
This study investigates the regional distribution and dynamics of human capital in China. We develop a new comprehensive human capital measure based on the Jorgenson-Fraumeni (J-F) lifetime income framework, in addition to using the traditional education-based human capital measures. We find that the new J-F human capital measure reflects more closely the regional economic disparity than the education-based measures. We also conduct a Divisia decomposition analysis to investigate the contributions of different factors to the quantity and quality growth of human capital and to regional disparity. Our results show that the regional human capital gaps in China are enlarging in general. Education and urbanization contribute most to human capital growth, while population aging shows a strong negative effect. Our estimates create a new provincial level human capital panel dataset from 1985 to 2014, which is useful for empirical work and policy analysis.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 853-866 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Journal of Comparative Economics |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- China
- Divisia index
- Human capital
- Jorgenson-Fraumeni lifetime income approach
- Regional disparity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Economics and Econometrics