In the #2 Human Capital Talk Federico Rossi, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Warwick, presented research on human capital and structural transformation. Federico Rossi introduced the channels through which human capital affects the organization of production and economic development. Building on his research, he also outlined possible future scenarios on the role of human capital for economic development in light of global challenges such as population ageing and climate change.
Pablo Saavedra, Vice President, Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions delivered opening remarks. Kalpana Kochhar, Director for Development Policy and Finance, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and William F. Maloney, Chief Economist for LAC Region, The World Bank, were discussants.
Federico Rossi demonstrated how human capital drives structural transformation. He argued that expansion in education policies, as a form of industrial policy, changes the comparative advantage of a country and reallocation of labor away from agriculture-intensive employment in the market. Employing a novel dataset of extensions of compulsory schooling across countries, he showed that newer cohorts affected by the education reform were associated with a decrease in agricultural employment in their adulthood.
Rossi also discussed how the formation and utilization of human capital impacts technology adoption to transform the production process, an observation that reinforces the vital need for quality education and skill development. This is especially true for young generations who have historically led the way for technological revolutions, such as the ICT revolution of the 1900s and early 2000s.
Concluding his presentation, Rossi touched upon the effects of demographic and climate change on the global organization of production, noting productivity losses and drastic shift in age structure and skills of the labor force with greatest risks faced in developing countries.
Kalpana Kochhar emphasized “learning agility” among youth and ensuring "healthy workforce” in improving human capital. Importantly, she highlighted that nearly half of the human capital talent is systematically excluded as gender gaps continue to exist in the workforce. She also pointed at the need for deliberate action on shifting social norms and attitudes that hinder female labor force participation.
William Maloney connected Federico’s evidence with his research in the LAC region, underscoring that human capital accumulation in terms of basic education, non-cognitive skilling, vocational and technical training, needs to be a deliberate “industrial” policy.
Last Updated: Nov 30, 2022
OPENING REMARKS:
Pablo Saavedra is the World Bank’s Vice President for the Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions (EFI) Global Practice. In this position, he leads the World Bank’s practice groups that work on macroeconomic analysis and policies, fiscal policy, finance, trade, investment, competitiveness, poverty, governance, and climate economics. Saavedra, a Bolivian national, served in several positions of responsibility across the World Bank. Until recently, he was the Chief of Staff of the World Bank Group. Prior to that, he served as the Country Director for Mexico, and earlier as the Practice Manager of the Macroeconomics, Trade, and Investment unit in the Latin America and Caribbean Region. He also worked as Economic Adviser at the Country Economics department of the Operational Policy and Country Services (OPCS) Vice Presidency and was the Operations Committee (OC) Secretary.
PRESENTER:
Federico Rossi is the Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick and an Associate to the Centre for Macroeconomics, and former Assistant Professor of Economics, Johns Hopkins University. He also serves as a consultant for the World Bank, Research Associate for the Centre for Macroeconomics. And Visiting Scholar at Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF) and University of Oxford. His recent research and publications have focused on structural transformation, labor and skills, human capital variation across countries, human capital and macroeconomic development, to name a few. Federico’s field of research includes Macroeconomics, Development, and Applied Econometrics. He holds a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
MODERATOR:
Iffath Sharif is Manager of the Human Capital Project. She works on supporting the World Bank Group’s global agenda to protect, build and utilize human capital in partnership with countries and development agencies. She has previously held multiple positions in the Africa region as Practice Manager for the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice, as well as in South Asia as Lead Economist and Human Development Program Leader. Iffath has worked on areas of poverty, adaptive safety nets and public works, early childhood development, microfinance, gender, nutrition, migration, and jobs. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and a master's from Princeton University.
DISCUSSANTS:
Kalpana Kochhar is Director, Development Policy and Finance at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to taking this position, she spent 33 years at the IMF, ending her career there as the Director of the Human Resources Department of the IMF between 2016 and 2021. She has also held positions as Deputy Director in the Asia and Pacific Department of the IMF where she worked on India, China, Korea, Japan and several other Asian countries, and in the Strategy, Policy and Review Department where she launched the IMF’s work on the macroeconomic implications of gender inequality and women’s economic empowerment. Between 2010 and 2012, she was seconded to the World Bank as the Chief Economist for the South Asia Region of the World Bank. Ms. Kochhar’s research interests and publications have been on emerging markets including India and China, and jobs and inclusive growth, gender and inequality issues, structural reforms, and regional integration in South Asia. She holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Economics from Brown University and an M.A. in Economics from Delhi School of Economics in India. She has a B.A in Economics from Madras University in India.
William F. Maloney is Chief Economist for the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. Mr. Maloney joined the Bank in 1998 as Senior Economist for the Latin America and Caribbean Region. He held various positions including Lead Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America, Lead Economist in the Development Economics Research Group, Chief Economist for Trade and Competitiveness and Global Lead on Innovation and Productivity. He was most recently Chief Economist for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions (EFI) Vice Presidency. From 2011 to 2014 he was Visiting Professor at the University of the Andes and worked closely with the Colombian government on innovation and firm upgrading issues. Mr. Maloney received his PhD in Economics from the University of California Berkeley, his BA from Harvard University, and studied at the University of the Andes in Bogota, Colombia. His publications have focused on issues related to international trade and finance, developing country labor markets, innovation and growth, and he heads the World Bank Productivity Project.
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