1.1.8 Analyzing the Impact of Human Capital on the Technological Development and Economic Growth of the Russian Federation
Aleksandra Bojechkova
Project Leader
Project period
2020-2025
Context of Research Project within a Subject of Human Capital
Human capital is one of the most important factors of economic growth, contributing to an increase in the total factor productivity, innovation activity, and successful borrowing of foreign technologies. At the present stage, the complexity of technologies and the acceleration of their changes cause a significant contribution of human capital to the level of competitiveness of the economies of various countries, ensuring sustainable economic growth.
The research project Analyzing the Impact of Human Capital on the Technological Development and Economic Growth of the Russian Federation focuses on studying mechanisms and obtaining quantitative estimates of human capital influence on technological development and economic growth in Russia as a whole, as well as in groups of Russian regions. It is essential to choose between economic policy measures aimed at increasing patent activity, nurturing highly qualified personnel for the development of the domestic R&D sector, and measures aimed at forming personnel that ensure an effective process of borrowing technologies through foreign direct investment, import of machinery and equipment, etc.
Project Aim
Conducting economical and mathematical analysis of the role of human capital in technological development and economic growth in Russia
Project Objectives:
- Assessing human capital influence and the contribution of highly qualified personnel (including those employed in the field of R&D) on the economic growth rates in Russian regions cassified by specialization, as well as regions-leaders of innovative development
- Making a cross-country analysis of assessments of the effectiveness in the R&D sector, identify factors and mechanisms to increase the impact of the R&D sector on economic growth
- Assessing human capital return for innovation, patent activity and the process of technology borrowing through foreign direct investment and import of machinery and equipment; assess the contribution of the development of the R&D sector, patent activity, as well as the process of technology borrowing in Russian regions, to regional economic growth rates
- Making recommendations for economic policy in the field of education and science development
Key Findings
2020
Intra-Russian interregional differences in the influence degree of human capital on economic growth rates have been revealed, the level of human capital significant for the growth of a particular group of regions has been determined. The regions of the Russian Federation characterized by a significant contribution of highly qualified personnel to the increase in economic growth rates have been identified. The impact of the R&D sector in terms of economic growth based on cross-country data, depending on the country's proximity to the global technological border, based on a review of international experience, as well as empirical estimates, has been revealed
2021
The degrees and channels of human capital influence on the technological development of various regions of the Russian Federation using econometric methods have been revealed; the degree and channels of influence of the R&D sector on regional economic growth rates have been revealed on the basis of econometric estimates of models on panel data. Recommendations have been formulated for economic policy in terms of increasing the efficiency of public spending on education and science, creating an environment favorable for the development of innovations
2022
The heterogeneity of the influence of human capital on economic growth in regions with different specialization has been found. The highest return on those employed in the R&D sector was observed in regions with a predominance of manufacturing industries, and the lowest return on human capital in terms of economic growth is observed in extractive regions, and there are also indirect signs of the importance of graduates of technical specialties for the economic growth of regions dominated by manufacturing industry. The conducted assessment of the dynamics of the innovation potential of Russian regions by the envelope method made it possible to identify a group of leading regions forming an effective technological border, and a group of outsider regions significantly lagging behind it.
Recommendations for economic policy in the field of education and science have been formulated: an increase in the share of the population (or employed) with higher education, an increase in the number of graduates of technical universities, an increase in the share of government spending in GDP on education aimed at improving the quality of education provided at all levels of education, an increase in the number of people employed in the R&D sector (as engineers forming conditions for effective adaptation of foreign technologies and researchers, providing the foundation for the creation of their own technologies at the stage of transition from a growth simulation model to an innovative one).
Результаты эконометрических оценок (SGMM) степени влияния человеческого капитала на экономический рост регионов, классифицированных по направлению специализации в зависимости от доли отрасли в суммарной ВДС
Conferences
Open Expert Seminar on the Results of the Study of the Impact of Human Capital on the Economic Growth Rates of the Regions of the Russian Federation on the Basis of RANEPA with the Invitation of External Experts (RU) (Moscow, Russia, December 29, 2020)