| Abstract |
1. General Description of Thesis
1. INTRODUCTION
Relevance of the research topic. Recently, the study of the role of human capital in modern socio-economic development and competitiveness has become widespread in the scientific literature. The level and pace of development of the economies of all countries of the world are increasingly dependent on the degree of development of human capital "education and scientific research". Therefore, raising the level and quality of education of the population has become a priority area of economic policy in many countries.
The development of human capital in modern conditions will significantly increase global competitiveness and increase GDP per capita. World experience shows that education and innovative technologies based on them have always been the key to increasing efficiency.
In the Arab Republic of Egypt, the high population and overall demographic situation is a serious problem. Despite the strong budgetary support for education in the country, the high population density leads and this is noted in the corresponding positions in the sub-indices (groups of indicators) for generally accepted indices of global competitiveness and human development, such as: degradation of the education system: for the quality of primary education (134 out of 144 countries ); the quality of the education system (135 out of 144 countries); training degrees (137 out of 144 countries); labor: female participation in the total workforce (133 out of 144 countries); unemployment of graduates - unemployment with secondary education 48%, and unemployment with higher education 39.7%; innovation: innovative potential (135); brain drain - the country's ability to retain talent (104 out of 144 countries), and the country's potential to attract talent (103 out of 144 countries), and others.
The foregoing predetermines the relevance of the problem of dissertation research, which consists in identifying trends in the formation and development of human capital in the world economy and, on the basis of them, determining the most effective ways to increase the global competitiveness of countries (using the example of the Arab Republic of Egypt) and ensuring positive growth trends in macroeconomic indicators of countries the world.
2. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE DISSERTATION:
The objective of the dissertation is the development of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of human capital and competitiveness, as well as the development the practical recommendations for using the human capital in the system of factors of global competitiveness in the countries of the world for example of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
To achieve this goal, the following sub-objectives are assigned in the dissertation research:
1. To study the theoretical and methodological aspects of the development and evolution of human capital as an economic category in relation to the competitiveness and competitive advantages of countries.
2. Determine the essence of the concept of competitiveness and, based on its evolution as an economic category, identify the system of factors that determine the development of human capital in the world economy, as well as identify the main factors of global competitiveness.
3. Systematize approaches to measuring human capital in interrelationship with indicators of global competitiveness and on this basis justify the most appropriate way to assess it at the national level.
4. To assess the relationship between human capital and global competitiveness and, on this basis, Panel data analysis (fixed and random effects models) to present the effect human capital development on competitiveness in Europe (EU) and BRICS countries.
5. Assess the relationship between human capital and the global competitiveness index in Egypt using time series models (OLS).
6. Justify and propose a strategy for the development of human capital to accelerate and increase the competitiveness of the economy of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
The methodological basis of the study is made up of general scientific methods of cognition: comparative, structural, historical analysis, economic and statistical approaches, synthesis, induction, deduction, graphical method of presenting the results obtained.
The information and empirical base of the study is based on data published on the websites of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMS), the Central Bank of Egypt (CB) and ministries of planning and investment, as well as international websites such as the World Bank Database (WBI), World Economic Forum (WEF), Statistical Service of the European Union - Eurostat (Eurostat), European Commission, publications of OECD, UNESCO, and United Nations Development Program (UNDP). as well as materials about other countries of the world.
THE SCIENTIFIC NOVELTY OF THE DISSERTATION RESEARCH: the scientific novelty of the dissertation research consists in the formation of theoretical and methodological approaches applicable to the conditions and criteria for the accumulation and development of human capital and its role in increasing global competitiveness, reflecting the content and role of human capital development in international competitiveness and socio-economic development ...
1. An expanded definition of the economic category "human capital" is given, which is a set of skills and abilities, potential and experience acquired or inherited by a person, and allowing to participate in economic life, including obtaining benefits, which can be improved through education, training, health care and other forms of human investment. At the same time, in connection with the system of factors of global competitiveness, which includes flows of investment in education (education), accumulated potential, characterized by a healthy, qualified and productive labor force in the labor market (labor market) and a system of indicators representing the balance between benefits and costs when using accumulated human capital (innovation);
2. Proposed and substantiated the author's approach to measuring human capital based on macroeconomic indicators using the system of econometric models of education-labor-innovation, which made it possible, in addition to the well-known human capital indices of the World Bank (The World Bank HCI), human development (HDI) and the human capital of the World Economic Forum (The World Economic Forum HCI) to develop a system of factors of global competitiveness through an integrated approach to measuring human capital;
3. The essence of the concept of competitiveness has been clarified and a methodological approach to assessing the competitiveness of countries of the world has been substantiated on the basis of a system of factors of global competitiveness and the identification of close links between the human capital index and global competitiveness using graphical analysis;
4. Trends and patterns of the relationship between human capital and global competitiveness were identified based on a comparative analysis of the European Union and the BRICS countries in terms of macroeconomic indicators, which made it possible to present and substantiate structural failures in the economy of the Arab Republic of Egypt caused by low labor productivity and, as a result, a decrease in the global competitiveness over the past 10-15 years, by more than 60 points (from 52 positions in 2005/06 to 119 in 2018/19) and to propose measures within the framework of socio-economic reforms in Egypt to ensure sustainable growth of indicators education, innovation and labor, which are the weakest in Egypt's global competitiveness sub-indices;
5. The interrelationships and the degrees of influence (elasticity) between the indicators of human capital according to generally recognized world indices and indicators of global competitiveness have been proved and confirmed by econometric models, including those with a fixed and random effect. At the same time, the following relationship was revealed between the number of students in schools and competitiveness, being a very small value with a negative sign, it shows for the case of the European Union (EU) and the BRICS countries that the number of students in schools is a biased indicator of human capital because, in theory, it is the ratio is positive and strong, where investment in human capital - education spending - leads to an increase in enrollment in education, which leads to an increase in the country's competitiveness indicator;
6. A set of recommendations for the development of human capital and increasing international competitiveness for Egypt was proposed and substantiated, assuming sustainable and comprehensive growth and based on adaptation to the peculiarities of the Egyptian economy in five areas as in the strategy of the European Union 2020 and the experience of the BIRKS countries, in particular smart, sustainable and inclusive growth; and in education, labor market and innovation. At the same time, the econometric model for Egypt shows that the education coefficient, being a negative value, means that education spending turns out to be ineffective and small, which leads to low-quality results and, therefore, restrains the growth in the country's international competitiveness, and Egypt also loses a large potential with high the unemployment rate, especially for graduates of universities and vocational schools, and the insignificance of innovations hinder the innovative and high-tech path of development, regardless of the increasing investment in the country's human capital.
The developed theoretical and practical recommendations have been introduced and applied in the practice of the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Labor and Employment, as well as the Council for Competitiveness of Egypt, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education of Egypt.
3. THESIS STRUCTURE:
The dissertation consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion, and a list of references (217 sources), which are presented on 204 pages, the work also contains 27 figures and 33 tables and 6 appendices.
The introduction reveals the relevance of the dissertation work, formulates the main goals and objectives, the object and subject of research, presents the theoretical and methodological foundations of the research, scientific novelty, and the practical significance of the work.
The first chapter presents the concepts of human capital and its evolution as an economic category, defines approaches to measuring human capital and presents a system of indicators, formulates an expanded definition of human capital. Also, a study of the concept of competitiveness, its evolution in economic theory at the macroeconomic level is carried out, a four-level system of competitiveness is presented, consisting of commodity, micro-, meso- and macro-levels, a system of factors of the country's competitiveness in relation to indicators of human capital is presented. Also, the correlation between human capital indicators and the global competitiveness index is analyzed.
The second chapter analyzes human capital indicators and the global competitiveness index and its sub-indices based on the experience of the countries of the European Union, BRICS and the Arab Republic of Egypt, which have the lowest positions and affect the level of human capital development, based on the relationship between the human capital index (HCI) and global competitiveness (GCI) using graphical analysis from the reports of the World Economic Forum. And also, an econometric analysis of the relationship between human capital and the global competitiveness index in the countries of the European Union and the BIRKS countries is presented on the basis of a Panel Data Model (fixed and random effects models), as well as the relationship between human capital and the index of global competitiveness of Egypt using time series models - OLS regression. which made it possible to develop recommendations for the use of human capital in increasing the global competitiveness of Egypt. |
