The impact of technology frontier on the total factor productivity growth in African economies: the role of human capital

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the technology frontier on the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth in African countries. The paper includes the human capital channel (i.e., low and high education) in the TFP growth function. The model also adds net foreign direct investment inflows and financial development as control variables. The long-run estimations indicate that the technology frontier hampers the TFP growth. The technology frontier adversely affects the TFP growth in a low education channel. Surprisingly, high education has a positive and insignificant impact on TFP growth. It is also found that financial development decreases the TFP growth while net foreign direct investment inflows have mixed effects. These findings suggest that educated labour embodied in rich technology frontier should also require the proper training for enhancing the TFP growth in African economies.