Regional Distribution and Dynamics of Human Capital in China 1985–2014

Download as .RIS

Citation

Fraumeni, Barbara M.; He, Junzi; Li, Haizheng; & Liu, Qinyi (2019). Regional Distribution and Dynamics of Human Capital in China 1985–2014. Journal of Comparative Economics, 47, 853-866.

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.

URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2019.06.003

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2019

Journal Title

Journal of Comparative Economics

Author(s)

Fraumeni, Barbara M.
He, Junzi
Li, Haizheng
Liu, Qinyi