26
6. Education and productivity: How is produced?
Empirical inquiries into the impact of education and technology on productivity is perhaps one
of the most difficult tasks for regional economists. Estimation of economy-wide production
functions is data demanding and difficult (Hansen 1993), and is so far outside the scope of this
study. However previous Danish studies did not reveal strong and statistical significants
influence from education to productivity.
Moreover, Erich Gundlach (1997) from the Kiel Institute of World Economics gives an
overview of empirical production functions with the attempt to assess the macroeconomic
impact of human capital for economic development. Production functions with education and
human capital are difficult to estimate, an he ends up with the conclusion, that “..economic
theory has to carry the bulk of the argument which favours the view that human capital
formation is one of the most important determinants of economic development.”
7. Conclusion
The level of education is growing, and the supply of low-skilled workers are falling in
Denmark. Types of education oriented toward specific tasks in personal service and welfare
service are important in the overall educational pattern of the Danish labour force. This
includes teachers, nurses, doctors etc. In Denmark welfare and personal service mainly belong
to the public sector, and as the public sector accounts for about 1/3 of total employment,
traditions, political priorities and negotiation with professionals associations and trade unions
are important for employment and wages for large groups of high educated Danes. In general
the picture remained stable in the investigated period from 1980 to 1992.
Comprehensive investigations into labour market performance in relation to import and export,
show that low skilled Danes performed relatively well compared to high skilled Danes. Thus
import and export data do not support the hypothesis that low skilled lost jobs and relative
income due to foreign competition from 1980 to 1992.
The technological development could be biassed against low skilled. Economy wide
macroeconomic studies of the impact of technology requires estimation of production