Author(s)

Bless Kofi Edziah¹, Huaping Sun^1*, Emmanuel Anyigbah², Liang Li³

¹Institute of Industrial Economics, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
²School of Finance and Economics, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
³School of Business, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China.

This study explores the effect of human capital on energy efficiency in a panel of developing countries from 1990 to 2017. Using the stochastic frontier model and the energy demand function, our results show that human capital can increase energy efficiency. Even after controlling for certain factors, the variable for human capital result remains unchanged. With regards to the controls, green innovation increased energy efficiency, while institutional quality showed an insignificant relation with energy efficiency. In general, the research results show that one essential positive externality of human capital development is that it promotes a greener future through energy conservation. Our findings can provide policymakers and governments with good reasons why more attention should be paid to human capital development to stimulate energy efficiency and a green future.

Human Capital, Energy Efficiency, Stochastic Frontier Analysis, Energy Demand Function

Edziah, B. , Sun, H. , Anyigbah, E. and Li, L. (2021) Human Capital and Energy Efficiency: Evidence from Developing Countries. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 11, 599-610. doi: 10.4236/ajibm.2021.116038.