Improving economy by education and human capital: the impact of science, technology, research and development

Download
2019
Altun Taber, Ebru
This thesis is based on cross-sectional data analyses by using OLS methods to examine differences in countries’ per capita GDPs and specifically the effects of human capital, science, technology, research and development on these differences. The Human Capital Index (HCI) and PISA science scores make two different groups including 120 countries and 66 countries respectively. Countries ranked in terms of Human Capital Index are sub-divided into two parts according to their income class, which are high income & upper middle income countries and low income & lower middle income countries. Education is one of the most important differences among different economies; and its impact is reflected in human capital. Human capital is growing in importance in terms of economic growth. In the past, the school enrollment ratio was used as a proxy for human capital, but was inadequate in representing human capital resources. Later on, some international tests, such as PISA, started to replace school enrolment ratios. On the other hand, some researchers suggest that taking into account other controlling variables changes the effect of education on economic growth. Firstly, HCI and PISA score are used in the models and later on, to show whether education is significant to explain income differences, other controlling variables like R&D expenditure and number of scientific and technical journal articles are included. The results indicate that after adding control variables, the strong relationship between cross country income differences and HCI or PISA scores disappears or becomes weaker.

Suggestions

The role of regional policies along with the external and endogenous factors in the resilience of regions
Eraydın, Ayda (2016-03-01)
This article aims to discuss the importance of the different policies and measures defined by governments in the resilience of regions, besides their connectedness to the global economic system and their endogenous capacities. The article explores the importance of different attributes in the resilience of Turkish regions (26 NUTS II regions) in the last two recessionary shocks and in the following recovery periods. By analysing the role of regional policies in the resilience of regions in two distinct peri...
The Heuristic role of questions in the formation of research programmes: Copernicus’s heliocentric system
Altuğ, Sezen; Bağçe, Samet; Department of Philosophy (2016)
The aim of this thesis is to develop a critical view about the notion of the heuristic in Lakatos’s methodology of research programmes. The heuristic is tried to be sterilized from its defects with an insight derived from different forms of theories dealing with questions. For that reason, a short survey which includes Socratic dialogues, Hintikka’s theory of interrogative games, van Fraassen’s theory of why-questions, and Laudan’s analogy between science and problem-solving activity is introduced. As a res...
Impact analysis of industrial research and development subsidy programs in Turkey: an appraisal of quantitative approaches
Tandoğan, Vedat Sinan; Pamukcu, Mehmet Teoman; Department of Science and Technology Policy Studies (2011)
This thesis has two objectives in the field of policy evaluation that recently received extensive attention from international science and technology community. First, an attempt is made to examine, in the Turkish context, the effects of public subsidies on private research and development (R&D), selecting and implementing a suitable empirical methodology. Second, in the context of emerging economies, it aims to contribute to the existing impact analysis literature by providing an evaluation study for the p...
Planlamada Sosyal Bilimcinin Değişen Rolü: Toplumdan Biri Olmak
Ataöv, Anlı (Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Architecture, 2007)
In this paper, by reviewing urban planning paradigms since World War II, I demonstrate how the role of social scientists has changed in accordance with global trends, theoretical argumentation in planning and the relationship of research with practice. I do this in reference to three general planning approaches, including physical, rational, and participatory. Then, I display how social scientists can transform real life planning processes into a change process through scientific inquiry. Social scientists ...
The growth of income and energy consumption in six developing countries
Sarı, Ramazan; Soytaş, Uğur (2007-02-01)
This paper reexamines the inter-temporal link between energy consumption and income in six developing countries with diverse economic backgrounds and energy statistics, in a production function framework. We employ the generalized variance decompositions and generalized impulse response techniques to see if the growth of income and energy consumption contains considerable information to predict each other. In all countries, energy appears as an essential factor of production. Results indicate that energy ma...
Citation Formats
E. Altun Taber, “Improving economy by education and human capital: the impact of science, technology, research and development,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2019.