TY - BOOK ID - 137097145 TI - Knowledge Capital and Aggregate Income Differences : Development Accounting for U.S. States AU - Hanushek, Eric A. AU - Ruhose, Jens. AU - Woessmann, Ludger. AU - National Bureau of Economic Research. PY - 2015 PB - Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research DB - UniCat UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:137097145 AB - Improvement in human capital is often presumed important for state economic development, but little research links better education to state incomes. We develop detailed measures of worker skills in each state that incorporate cognitive skills from state- and country-of-origin achievement tests. These new measures of knowledge capital permit development accounting analyses calibrated with standard production parameters. Differences in knowledge capital account for 20-30 percent of the state variation in per-capita GDP, with roughly even contributions by school attainment and cognitive skills. Similar results emerge from growth accounting analyses. These estimates support school improvement as a strategy for state economic development. ER -