This work focuses on researching and establishing the importance of human capital and innovation as determinants of competitive advantages in international trade—in the context of rapidly evolving technological advancement, globalization, and economic integration. The processes that accompany the shift from industrial economics to a knowledge-based economy are currently the object of interest of both scientists, politicians, investors and entrepreneurs. In many countries, the traditional sources of socioeconomic development, such as low labor costs, availability of inexpensive raw materials, and favorable geographic location are waning. These economies are searching for new sources of competitive advantage that will allow for maintaining growth, among other things by boosting participation in international trade. The book explores non-traditional drivers of competitiveness in both theory and practice. First, chapters 1 through 4 present theoretical and methodological aspects of the relationships among international trade, human capital and innovation. Here the authors address the controversy associated with the concept of competitiveness itself and its measurement, while paying special attention to the political development of comparative advantages related to international trade. The second part of the monograph, chapters 5 through 8, is of empirical nature. This section contains case studies of selected countries that represent models of various national innovation systems. Finally, the theoretical and practical aspects are integrated, allowing policymakers and financial and business leaders to consider how their decisions can influence their countries’ competitive positions through their investments in innovation and human capital.

World Bank Technical Paper No. 300. Provides an overview of past experiences with the introduction of agricultural technologies in World Bank-funded projects in Mediterranean climates, with an emphasis on the Middle East and North African region. The authors review the adequacy of present crop and livestock technologies, identify technical and socio-economic constraints on their adoption, and describe prospective technologies for pilot testing and full-scale introduction in future Bank-funded projects.

The second title in the Palgrave Studies in Global Human Capital Management series, this book explores how human capital contributes to innovation within the context of an inter-connected and globalized world. Investigating globalization as a phenomenon reflected within increasing cross-border flows of goods, services, know-how and talent, Human Capital and Innovation: Examining the Role of Globalization illustrates various facets of innovation at individual, team and organizational level. It highlights the influence of new economic realities, such as technological advances and the rise of emerging economies, on human capital and innovation.

Investing in farmers - or agriculture human capital - is crucial to addressing challenges in our global agri-food systems, from sustainably feeding the world's growing population with food that is safe, healthy and nutritious to finding innovative solutions for more resilient and climate-smart agriculture. Up-skilling human capital for value-chain competitiveness in Uruguay was developed by the FAO Investment Centre and the World Bank, with the objective to identify ways to upskill human capital and make Uruguayan agricultural value-chains more competitive. This publication looks at opportunities to increase key value chain efficiency and at the skills that are required to seize such opportunities. It identifies ways to develop human capital through training agricultural professionals - including researchers, agronomists and technicians - to lead the next generation of technology and innovation-driven agribusinesses. It suggests options for fostering a process of continuous development and upskilling in the agricultural sector in Uruguay. This publication is part of the Country Investment Highlights series under the FAO Investment Centre's Knowledge for Investment (K4I) programme.

Executives say that people are their most important asset, but most don’t walk the talk. They don’t have systematic strategies for how to get the people they want to want them. They don’t have measures and metrics for how they are doing to be the employer of choice. They don’t hold leaders accountable regarding those ambitions. In many cases, this is because top leaders don’t have concrete tools to help them do what they know they should. This book fills that gap in three major sections. The first section supports with clear and compelling data what executives intuitively but somewhat superficially believe—that people are their most important asset. The second section provides a systematic process and set of tools to help leaders get the people they want to want them; it shows executives how to win the competition for human capital. The third section then helps leaders position people appropriately so that they can create a sustainable competitive advantage; its shows executives how to compete with human capital. When it comes to human capital, most books get it wrong. Strategy books place human capital to the side as an enabler of competitive advantage. HR books treat human capital as a support activity to business strategy. This book places human capital where it should be—not to the side and not as an enabler or a support activity, but at the center and as the source of competitive advantage.

This book focuses on the specific traits and nature of entrepreneurial human capital and the extent to which it can be stimulated by entrepreneurship education – especially when these activities combine collaborative practices and innovation. It includes a comprehensive collection of articles on how entrepreneurship education can be structured, providing theoretical reflections as well as empirical evidence. As such it contributes to the ongoing debate on the teachability of entrepreneurial skills and the role of innovation and collaboration in the design of educational programs that aim to spread entrepreneurial human capital.

The research presented in this volume explains how well-educated workers can interact with physical capital inputs to innovate and add value to processes, products and services, ultimately creating a multiplier-effect on macroeconomic growth. It fills a significant gap in the existing literature by providing a detailed map of the relationship between microeconomic inputs such as health and education services and macroeconomic outputs such as growth. Grounded in economic theory and backed by economic analysis, Knowledge and Innovation for Competitiveness makes a compelling argument that human c.

Excerpt from Competition and Human Capital Accumulation: A Theory of Interregional Specialization and Trade Marshall (1920) posits instead that the external economies arise from proximity to specialized inputs. As noted by Helpman and Krugman unless there is a natural comparative advantage for the production of these inputs in the region, this explanation is incomplete. The puzzle is simply rolled back to the previous production stage: Why do the producers of inputs locate in the region? Our theory is that the location decisions of the firms and their input suppliers are interdependent. Input suppliers find it advantageous to be located where they have several potential customers because competition among their downstream customers assures them a fair return. In the absence of such competition, the relatively immobile suppliers would be subject to the monopsony power of the downstream firms. Foreseeing that monopsony power would be used to drive down input prices, potential input suppliers would not choose to invest ex ante in the accumulation of the capital necessary to supply the inputs efficiently. This critical role of competition in securing a return to suppliers is one of the elements in Porter's (1989) broad treatise on regional agglomeration. For concreteness, the particular input we focus on is industry specific human capital which is costly for individuals to acquire, such as the specific hand-eye coordination needed to cut diamonds or the skills which facilitate the creation of a new chocolate concoction. If trained workers can choose among several potential employers, they will be paid as a function of their marginal product. By contrast, if there is only one potential employer, and it is impossible to write contracts that specify the level of training, there is no reason for this monopsonist to pay trained employees any more than untrained employees earn (in this industry or elsewhere). The hold-up problem described by Williamson (1975) arises. Confronted with the prospect of a single potential employer, workers do not find it worthwhile to accumulate human capital. Moreover, if entry by firms is costly, firms will themselves refrain from entering if they can expect to be the only firm in the industry. The industry can only exist with several closely located competitors. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.