Problems of Measuring Knowledge Capital Stock and Its Contribution to Economic Growth

In their book, E. Hanushek and L. Wossmann analyze the relationship between the economic growth of countries and the stock of knowledge capital that they have. The main argument that is put forward and discussed in the book is that the level of knowledge capital is one of the key predictors of economic develop-ment. However, in order to test this hypothesis empirically, it is important to cor-rectly measure the stock of knowledge capital. The authors propose their own methodology for measuring knowledge capital, which is based on the results of international studies of student performance. This methodology differs signifi-cantly from previous approaches, in which the stock of knowledge capital was ap-proximated by the average years of schooling in the country. Measuring knowl-edge capital through aggregating the results of international studies of educa-tional achievements, the authors suggest that the economic growth of countries is affected not by the duration of education, but by its effectiveness, that is, the average level of cognitive skills of people. The use of the knowledge capital indi-cator proposed by the authors in modeling economic development makes it pos-sible to explain the differences in economic growth rates in different groups of countries, as well as to identify public policy instruments in the field of educa-tion, the use of which can accelerate economic growth