scholarly journals The Dynamic Relation between Technology Adoption, Technology Innovation, Human Capital and Economy: Comparison of Lower-Middle-Income Countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shafaq Salam ◽  
Muhammad Hafeez ◽  
Muhammad Tariq Mahmood ◽  
Kashif Iqbal ◽  
Kashifa Akbar
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 887-887
Author(s):  
Nandita Perumal ◽  
Mia Blakstad ◽  
Goodarz Danaei ◽  
Gunther Fink ◽  
Mark Lambiris ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives Scaling-up nutrition interventions during pregnancy may provide human capital gains by lowering the risk of adverse birth outcomes associated with reduced long-term socioeconomic outcomes. We estimated gains in years of schooling and lifetime wages of scaling up prenatal maternal nutrition interventions for a 137 low- and middle-income countries. Methods Through a comprehensive review of the literature, we identified four prenatal maternal nutrition interventions with convincing-level of evidence for improving birth outcomes: prenatal multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS), calcium supplements, iron-folic acid supplements (IFA), and balanced protein energy supplements (BEP) among underweight pregnant women (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2). Effect sizes for intervention impact were derived from systematic reviews and random-effects meta-analysis. We focused on low birthweight (LBW) and preterm birth (PTB) as primary birth outcomes. We used the 2015 LBW and PTB prevalence estimates to calculate country-specific absolute reductions attributable to scaling-up a given prenatal nutrition invention. We then used an effect size based on a de novo review of the economics literature to quantify gains in schooling and lifetime wages due to reductions in LBW/PTB under two hypothetical scale-up scenarios of 50% and 90% coverage. Results For each country, returns on schooling and lifetime wages were estimated for scaling-up each prenatal nutrition intervention. For example, in Bangladesh, scaling-up IFA supplements from current coverage of 26% to 90% was estimated to reduce LBW prevalence by 3.2% contributing to a predicted increase of 0.11 million school years and US$153 million in wages per birth cohort. Similarly, scaling-up MMS, calcium supplements, and BEP to 90% coverage was predicted to increase schooling by 0.25, 0.17, and 0.07 million years, and wages by US$338, US$223, and US$97 million, respectively, per birth cohort. Global, regional, and national-level estimates for schooling and wage gains for each nutrition intervention will be presented. Conclusions Our findings indicate that scaling-up prenatal maternal nutrition interventions will contribute to substantial population-level increases in human capital, particularly in countries with a high burden of low birthweight or preterm birth. Funding Sources Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia E Poveda ◽  
Fernando P Hartwig ◽  
Cesar G Victora ◽  
Linda S Adair ◽  
Fernando C Barros ◽  
...  

SummaryBackgroundGrowth faltering has been associated with poor intellectual performance. The relative strengths of associations between growth in early and in later childhood remain underexplored. We examined the association between growth in childhood and adolescence and adult human capital in five low- or middle-income countries (LMICs).MethodsWe analyzed data from six prospective birth cohorts of five LMICs (Brazil, Guatemala, India, the Philippines, and South Africa). We assessed the associations of measures of height and relative weight at four ages (birth, at around age 2 years, mid-childhood (MC), adulthood), with two dimension of adult human capital (schooling attainment and IQ).FindingsIn site- and sex-pooled analyses, size at birth and linear growth from birth to around 2 years of age were positively associated with schooling attainment and adult IQ. Linear growth from age 2 years to MC and from MC to adulthood was not associated with higher school attainment or IQ. Change in relative weight in early childhood was not associated with either outcome. Relative weight in MC and in adulthood were inversely associated with schooling attainment but were not associated with adult IQ.InterpretationLinear growth in the first 1,000 days is a predictor of schooling attainment and IQ in adulthood in LMICs. Linear growth in later periods was not associated with either of these outcomes. Changes in relative weight had inconsistent association with schooling and IQ in adulthood.FundingBill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1164115)Research in contextEvidence before this studyEarly life growth faltering has been associated with poor cognitive and intellectual performance in childhood and poorer schooling outcomes in children and adults. There is a paucity of data about how growth in specific age intervals over the course of childhood and adolescence relates to attained schooling and adult cognitive performance.We conducted a literature search using the terms (growth [Title/Abstract]) AND ((school [Title/Abstract] OR schooling [Title/Abstract]) AND (intelligence [Title/Abstract] OR IQ [Title/Abstract]) OR (human capital [Title/Abstract]) in Pubmed. The search yielded 536 publications from 1965 to 2020. We screened titles and selected 31 publications that included linear growth and our outcomes of interest, namely school attainment and intelligence quotient (IQ). Additionally, we checked reference lists of selected articles and identified eleven papers that were not displayed in the initial electronic query. We therefore reviewed 42 abstracts and identified 24 unique studies conducted in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Fourteen of them investigated the association of birth size and/or early-life size with schooling or IQ, or with both outcomes during childhood. Three studies investigated the association between linear growth in early childhood and schooling and intelligence in adults, one studied the association between early-life undernutrition and IQ in early adulthood and another six publications investigated the association between growth and school attainment in adults. Economists have also studied the relationship between stunting or linear growth and schooling in LMICs, but to our knowledge not the relative importance of growth during specific age intervals.Added value of this studyThis is an analysis of the associations between child and adolescent growth and two dimensions of human capital (schooling attainment and IQ) in adulthood in six birth cohorts from five LMICs. The evidence of long-term associations of linear growth with adult IQ is scarce and the few published studies have analyzed data from a single country. In the present study, we found that size at birth and linear growth from birth to around 2 years of age were positively associated with both schooling and IQ in adulthood. Linear growth between early and mid-childhood (MC)was not associated with higher school attainment or IQ in adjusted models. Linear growth from MC to adulthood was not associated with IQ in men or women, and was inversely associated with schooling attainment in women only. Change in relative weight in early childhood was positively associated with schooling attainment only in minimally adjusted models. Relative weight measures in MC and adulthood were inversely associated with schooling attainment. Change in relative weight between MC and adulthood was not associated with adult IQ.Implications of all the available evidenceWe confirmed in multiple cohorts that birth size and linear growth from birth to age 2 years are predictors of schooling attainment and adult IQ. Linear growth in early life was the strongest predictor of these two human capital dimensions in adulthood among individuals in LMICs. We did not find evidence that supports the notion that linear growth in adolescence contributes to a better cognitive performance in adulthood. Thus, our results inform the more effective timing of nutritional and other interventions to improve linear growth and human capital in the long-term.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-154
Author(s):  
Inna Cabelkova ◽  
Manuela Tvaronaviciene ◽  
Wadim Strielkowski

The negative effect of income inequality on economic growth represents a topic that constitutes a broad topic of research in the standard economic theory. One of the immediate consequences of income inequality is diminished consumption. Many «poor» customers cannot provide sufficient demand for the producers, causing overproduction that might lead to an economic crisis. It constitutes a problem because sustainable economic performance needs to be achieved under the conditions of income inequality. Reducing social and economic inequality in countries is an essential step towards ensuring that no one is left behind. It is also part of the 10th Sustainable Development Goal aimed to reduce it by 2030. Inequality is based on the income distribution between the top 1% and the bottom 99% of households in any given country. The degree of inequality could play a beneficial role if it is driven by market forces and is associated with incentives to increase growth. In developing and emerging countries, greater equality and improvements in living standards are needed to enable populations to flourish. Inequality reduction is one of the most critical steps a government could take to improve the well-being of its population. The income inequality growth increases human capital in poor countries and reduces it in high and middle-income countries. In poorer countries, it increases them, but in higher – and middle-income countries, it reduces them. Income inequality could be reduced by improving human capital and general skill levels, correcting labor-market policies, and making better use of financial services. In turn, sustainable economic growth could reverse the negative effects of inequality, reducing the need for high-wage and higher-earning households. Thus, it provides higher economic growth. This paper discusses three ways to circumvent the impact of decreasing consumption on economic growth adopted in developing economies over the last fifty years, such as increasing exports, providing loans for consumption, and printing new money. The findings showed that none of these methods seem to be sustainable in the long run. Thus novel and innovative mechanisms that would allow our economy to reduce inequality are necessary and need to be put into place.


2021 ◽  
pp. 301-350
Author(s):  
Jere R. Behrman

Parental human capital and endowments may affect children’s human capital, which in turn may affect children’s income and thus social mobility. This chapter focuses on what we know about these links in low- and middle-income countries. It starts with definitions of human capital and endowments and simple frameworks for guiding summaries of what we know and do not know about these links. It discusses determinants of children’s human capital in the form of cognitive skills, socioemotional skills and health, which pertain directly to some indicators of social mobility; reviews estimates of impacts of these forms of human capital, which pertain to some other indicators of social mobility, such as income; and concludes with a summary suggesting some positive impacts of parental human capital and endowments on social mobility in low- and middle-income countries, policy implications, and gaps in the literature pertaining to both data and methodology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-341
Author(s):  
Muhammad Umar ◽  
Imran Sharif Chaudhry ◽  
Muhammad Faheem ◽  
Fatima Farooq

This study aims to explore the impact of governance, foreign direct investment and human capital on trade liberalization in developing countries (lower income, middle income and upper middle income). The study employed fixed effect for the period of 2000 to 2019. Results show governance, foreign direct investment and human capital are highly significant with trade liberalization in the case of lower-income countries. In the case of middle-income countries, empirical findings demonstrate governance and foreign direct investment are highly significant with a negative sign, while human capital has positive on trade liberalization. In the case of upper-middle-income countries, results show human capital and foreign direct investment affect positively, while governance has a negative effect on trade liberalization. On the behalf of results it is suggested that in the countries where human capital is high, most of the inflows of foreign direct investment happen. It means that the government can develop human resources to attract more foreign direct investments. The governments of developing countries should also concentrate on education, including training facilities and other quality educational facilities for human skill development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-83
Author(s):  
Myroslava Olievska ◽  
Arthur Romanov

The purposes of the article are to assess the impact of financing of education and health to human capital development, to consider the relationship among wages and investment in human capital, to establish directions of improvement of the investments in human capital development in Ukraine and other lower-middle-income countries. Methodology. Methodological basis of the research is the study of the dynamics of such indicators as the Human Capital Index 2020, wages, GNI per capita, education expenditure, government expenditure, financing of health, the wages of full-time employees. To solve the problems arising from the purpose of the study, systemic method (when analyzing the relationship of the investments in human capital development and wages), statistical methods of comparisons, economic analysis (when processing statistics), historical method (in the study of the evolution of Human Capital Index, expenditures on health and education), empirical and correlation-regression analysis (in the analysis of the practice of investments in human capital development) have been used. Results. The human capital is a central driver of sustainable growth and poverty reduction. The article proves that high-income countries can better finance the development of human capital; they are the leaders of the Ukraine Index 2020, more human capital in high-income countries is associated with higher earnings for people, higher income for countries, and stronger cohesion in societies. At the same time, the article substantiates that the low level of GNI per capita (3370 USD in Ukraine) and insufficient level of education and health expenditure negatively affect formation of human capital (the 53rd place in the Human Capital Index 2020). On the basis of the study of government and non-government expenditure on education and health, it has been concluded that investments in human capital are the effective tool to increase of the wages of full-time employees. Practical implications. Today human capital gains in many countries are at risk, especially in lower-middle-income countries. Features of the current socioeconomic situation require strengthening of investments in human capital development. The main steps that are necessary to undertake for implementing changes in the investments in human capital development have been determined in the article. They are the following: optimization of state financing of human capital; creation of fiscal space; creation of regional funds for financing human capital development; creation of strategic alliances and partnerships; supporting the demand for education and health care from households. Value/originality. The relationships between investments in human capital development and wages in the lower-middle-income countries are analytically proved. The complex of actions on optimization of financing of human capital has been generalized.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-231
Author(s):  
Tangguh Pratysto ◽  
Ingrid Panjaitan

Studying the distribution of income is an important issue to know what factors which affect to make income distribution more equitable, what factors can be the key to resolving the problem of income inequality, and shortening the distance between the poor and the rich. This paper studies the relationship between human capital, inflation rate, unemployment rate, physical capital, fiscal expenditure, gross domestic product growth, and urbanization on income inequality in 52 Lower Middle-Income Countries throughout 1990-2014. The authors estimate the impact of seven independent variables on income inequality as a dependent using Prais-Winsten with the robust model over period 1990-2014 at 52 Lower Middle-Income Countries. The results indicate an increase in human capital (gross school enrollment tertiary) can make the income distribution more even in the long run. The writers conclude that increases in human capital can reduce Gini coefficient and hence make income distribution fairer.


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