The effect of human capital on countries' economic efficiency

Abstract

The paper applies time-dependent conditional frontier estimators in order to examine the effect of human capital on countries' economic efficiency levels. Specifically, time-dependent conditional full and partial efficiency measures are applied to a sample of 123 countries for the period of 1970-2011. The results from the nonparametric analysis reveal a nonlinear relationship between countries' human capital, technological change and efficiency levels. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.