Human Capital, Age Structure and Growth Fluctuation

This paper assesses empirically the relationship between GDP per capita growth uctuations and the age structure and intensity of human capital across developed and developing countries We estimate a spatial vector autoregressive model of income dynamics where the economic distance between countries is de ned on their similarity in measures of human capital and its distribu tion across age groups These distances are computed using a newly developed human capital data set Spatial e ects on growth volatility and complementarity in national growth processes are explored with respect to the proposed distance metrics Our results imply that signi cant growth interdependence based on human capital distances exists among countries with highly non linear e ects