Economic growth, the high-tech sector, and the high skilled: Theory and quantitative implications

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2019

Authors

Pedro Rui Mazeda Gil (Author) FEP; Óscar Afonso (Author) FEP; Brito, P (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Structural Change and Economic Dynamics

Vol. 51

Pages: 89-105

ISSN: 0954-349X

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 11 Citations

Scopus - 11 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00Q-YFY

DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2019.07.003

Abstract (EN): Europe's "2020 Strategy" has the main goal of stimulating economic growth by increasing the weight of the high-tech sector and the share of high-skilled workers. However, cross-country European data suggests the relationship between economic growth and both the technology structure and the skill structure is statistically insignificant. We investigate an analytical mechanism that connects these facts by extending a directed-technical-change growth model and taking it to the data. Under high relative barriers to entry into the high-tech sector and scale effects we replicate the empirical relationships. We derive quantitative policy implications on the effects of a reduction of barriers to entry.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 17