Decomposing the impact of human capital on household income inequality in South Africa: Is education a useful measure?
- Friderichs, Tamaryn J, Keeton, Gavin R, Rogan, Michael
- Authors: Friderichs, Tamaryn J , Keeton, Gavin R , Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/470842 , vital:77400 , https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2022.2163228
- Description: Human capital (HC) has increasingly been identified as a driver of economic development, with the potential to reduce income inequality, which, in South Africa, originates in the labour market. HC is, however, a complex concept to measure. This study uses Fields’ regression-based decomposition method to analyse the relationships between income inequality and HC in South Africa. The Fields method allows for the analysis of the impact of several factors contributing to HC on the distribution of a measure of income. Data from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) wave 1 (2008) and 5 (2017) are used. The findings suggest that increasing educational attainment, through improved school quality for all, would likely play a key role in reducing income inequality in South Africa. Furthermore, the large role of education attainment in explaining household income inequality supports the use of education attainment as a proxy for HC in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: Friderichs, Tamaryn J , Keeton, Gavin R , Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/470842 , vital:77400 , https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2022.2163228
- Description: Human capital (HC) has increasingly been identified as a driver of economic development, with the potential to reduce income inequality, which, in South Africa, originates in the labour market. HC is, however, a complex concept to measure. This study uses Fields’ regression-based decomposition method to analyse the relationships between income inequality and HC in South Africa. The Fields method allows for the analysis of the impact of several factors contributing to HC on the distribution of a measure of income. Data from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) wave 1 (2008) and 5 (2017) are used. The findings suggest that increasing educational attainment, through improved school quality for all, would likely play a key role in reducing income inequality in South Africa. Furthermore, the large role of education attainment in explaining household income inequality supports the use of education attainment as a proxy for HC in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
Measuring human capital in South Africa using a socioeconomic status human capital index approach
- Friderichs, Tamaryn J, Keeton, Gavin R, Rogan, Michael
- Authors: Friderichs, Tamaryn J , Keeton, Gavin R , Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477962 , vital:78141 , https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2021.1941779
- Description: The Human Capital Index (HCI) developed by the [World Bank, 2018a. The human capital project. World Bank. https://hdl.handle.net/10986/30498 Accessed 26 February 2019] provides a measure which can be used to study human capital (HC) productivity gaps between countries. The HCI uses measures of survival, education and health to estimate, at a country level, the HC ‘a child born today can expect to attain by her/his 18th birthday, given the risks of poor health and poor education where she lives’ [World Bank, 2018a. The human capital project. World Bank. https://hdl.handle.net/10986/30498 Accessed 26 February 2019, 2]. The socioeconomic disaggregated human capital index (SES-HCI), an extension of the HCI, provides a means for analysing HC inequalities within countries. This study estimates SES-HCIs for South Africa by income quintiles, school quintiles, geographical area, gender and race. The main driver of HC inequalities in all the SES indicators is found to be the quality of schooling. Factors to address the inequalities and the limitations of the measuring instruments are identified.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Friderichs, Tamaryn J , Keeton, Gavin R , Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477962 , vital:78141 , https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2021.1941779
- Description: The Human Capital Index (HCI) developed by the [World Bank, 2018a. The human capital project. World Bank. https://hdl.handle.net/10986/30498 Accessed 26 February 2019] provides a measure which can be used to study human capital (HC) productivity gaps between countries. The HCI uses measures of survival, education and health to estimate, at a country level, the HC ‘a child born today can expect to attain by her/his 18th birthday, given the risks of poor health and poor education where she lives’ [World Bank, 2018a. The human capital project. World Bank. https://hdl.handle.net/10986/30498 Accessed 26 February 2019, 2]. The socioeconomic disaggregated human capital index (SES-HCI), an extension of the HCI, provides a means for analysing HC inequalities within countries. This study estimates SES-HCIs for South Africa by income quintiles, school quintiles, geographical area, gender and race. The main driver of HC inequalities in all the SES indicators is found to be the quality of schooling. Factors to address the inequalities and the limitations of the measuring instruments are identified.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
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