How Do National Economic Competitiveness Indices View Human Capital?

Autor/inn/en	Sabadie, Jesus Alquezar; Johansen, Jens
Titel	How Do National Economic Competitiveness Indices View Human Capital?
Quelle	In: European Journal of Education, 45 (2010) 2, S.236-258 (23 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0141-8211
Schlagwörter	Human Capital; Educational Change; Competition; Simulation; Improvement Programs; Developed Nations; Developing Nations; Evaluation Criteria; Training; Educational Policy; Role of Education; Educational Development; Economic Development; Global Approach; Labor Force Development; International Organizations; Economics; Access to Education; Measurement; Measurement Techniques + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Humankapital; Bildungsreform; Wettkampf; Simulation program; Simulationsprogramm; Effizienzsteigerung; Developed countries; Industriestaat; Industrieland; Developing country; Developing countries; Entwicklungsland; Ausbildung; Politics of education; Bildungspolitik; Bildungsauftrag; Bildungsentwicklung; Wirtschaftsentwicklung; Globales Denken; Arbeitskräftebestand; International organisation; International organisations; International organization; Internationale Organisation; Volkswirtschaftslehre; Education; Access; Bildung; Zugang; Bildungszugang; Messverfahren; Messtechnik
Abstract	"Economic competitiveness" is at the top of national, regional and global political and economic agendas. Several countries in all regions of the world have established policies and institutions devoted to economic competitiveness, including in developing and transition countries. This leads to the question of how to define national economic competitiveness and, as a logical consequence, how to measure it. This article provides a critical analysis of two major global indices measuring national economic competitiveness, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), with a special focus on the index published by the WEF due to its broader global coverage. The article shows that human capital has been given relatively little explicit recognition, despite the large weight of human capital in the WEF index. This article asserts through simulations based on WEF data that countries performing poorly in national economic competitiveness rankings can improve their standings significantly by focusing reform efforts on raising quality of education and on expanding access to education and training. The simulations also show that the potential improvements in national economic competitiveness are unequally distributed across the globe, and that in terms of national economic competitiveness, developing and transition countries stand to gain relatively most from improving their education and training systems compared to developed nations. Suggestions for improving measurements of education and training in the WEF index conclude the article and it is shown that educationalists can help refocus policy discussions on how to improve education and training systems through discussions on substance. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10