Publication: Closing the Gap in Education and Technology
Date
2003
ISSN
Published
2003
Author(s)
De Ferranti, David
Perry, Guillermo E.
Schady, Norbert
Abstract
This report focuses not only on the gaps
facing Latin America in both education and technology, but
especially on the interactions between the two. The central
premise of the report is that skills and technology interact
in important ways, and this relationship is a fundamental
reason for the large observed differences in productivity
and incomes across countries. This report argues that skills
upgrading technological change, and their interaction are
major factors behind total factor productivity growth.
Skill-biased technological change is indeed being
transferred today at faster speeds to LAC countries, as
elsewhere. Technological change has been complementary with
skill levels in Latin America in the last two decades. It is
further estimated that firms have substantially increased
the demand for educated workers in the region, particularly
workers with tertiary education. This technological
transformation appears to be intimately related to patterns
of integration in the world economy. Firms in sectors with
higher exposure to trade are subject to more competitive
pressures. Adopting and adapting more advanced technologies
and hiring and training more educated workers is one way to
respond to this pressure to become more productive. The
increased potential demand for education offers the
possibility to accelerate productivity growth in the economy
by closing the educational and technological gaps that Latin
American countries exhibit with respect to their peers.
Citation
“De Ferranti, David; Perry, Guillermo E.; Gill, Indermit; Guasch, J. Luis; Maloney, William F.; Sanchez-Paramo, Carolina; Schady, Norbert. 2003. Closing the Gap in Education and Technology. World Bank Latin American and Caribbean Studies;. © Washington, DC: World Bank. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/1cc4cbca-05dc-5d57-8a35-d238c716eefb License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”