Education and job complexity levels

Abstract

Education is generally accepted as a leading instrument for promoting economic growth. Growth theories have attempted to explain the relationship existing between education and growth through the important role played by labor productivity. However, productivity itself can be explained by consumers' requirement for higher-quality products, which need more complex production process, suggesting more complex jobs. This paper extends the theoretical model in Teulings and van Rens (Rev Econ Stat 90(1):89-104, 2008)). Using a general model, it shows that education levels are influenced by the productivity and jobs' complexity levels. However, the impact of the jobs' complexity is attenuated by the effect of the elasticity of substitution between workers types.