Can the difference in ageing across cities explain the divergence of human capital across cities in Korea?

ABSTRACT

This article uses Korean census data to investigate the divergence of human capital levels across cities in Korea and the role of ageing in explaining the divergence. Our analysis shows that the proportion of adults with a college degree has increased more in cities with a higher initial schooling level in Korea. This finding is consistent with what Berry and Glaeser (2005) and others found for the USA. However, if we control for the difference in ageing across cities, the relationship between the initial schooling level and the proportion of adults with a college degree does not hold any longer. It is argued that the difference in ageing across cities can largely account for the divergence of human capital levels across cities in Korea.

KEYWORDS:

• Human capital
• ageing
• divergence
• city

JEL CLASSIFICATIONS:

• R12
• R23
• J24

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ If the measure lies between 14% and 20%, the city is classified as an aged society, and if it is as large as 20%, the city is classified as a super-aged society.

² In this article, cities refer to the smallest administrative regions that can be identified in the Korean census data 1985–2005. In urban areas, cities are defined as administrative regions with as many as 50,000 inhabitants. If this threshold is used, the number of observations decreases from 198 to 184 in period 1985–1995 and from 200 to 165 in period 1995–2005. Regressions are performed with and without this threshold. However, the main results are not affected by this restriction.

³ Berry and Glaeser (2005) constructed a similar index in examining the effect of differences in industry distribution on the divergence of human capital across cities in the USA.