Human capital inequality, life expectancy and economic growth

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Castello-Climent, Amparo; Domenech, Rafael
• 署名单位: University of Valencia
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2008.02136.x
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 653-677
• 关键词: differential fertility matters; educational-attainment; socioeconomic-status; endogenous growth; increasing risk; child-mortality; HEALTH; longevity; determinants; CONVERGENCE

摘要

This article presents a model in which inequality affects per capita income when individuals decide to invest in education taking into account their life expectancy, which depends to a large extent on the human capital of their parents. Our results show the existence of multiple steady states depending on the initial distribution of education. The low steady state is a poverty trap in which children raised in poor families have low life expectancy and work as non-educated workers. The empirical evidence suggests that the life expectancy mechanism explains a major part of the relationship between inequality and human capital accumulation.