LABOR PRODUCTIVITY, HUMAN CAPITAL, AND PHYSICAL INVESTMENT IN ECUADOR (2021–2025): QUARTERLY EVIDENCE POST-PANDEMIC
Keywords:
labor productivity; human capital; investment; economic growth; EcuadorAbstract
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46296/yc.v10i18.0815
Abstract
This study examines the relationship between labor productivity, human capital, and investment in Ecuador during the period 2020Q4–2025Q3, within a context of economic recomposition following recent sanitary and productive shocks. Quarterly official data from the Central Bank of Ecuador and the National Survey of Employment, Unemployment, and Underemployment conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Census are used. Labor productivity is modeled in first logarithmic differences to analyze growth rates and prevent spurious regressions derived from non-stationarity. Explanatory variables include the logarithmic growth of Gross Fixed Capital Formation and the variation of a continuous human capital index constructed from the educational composition of employment. Linear models are estimated with HAC Newey–West robust standard errors to correct for potential autocorrelation and heteroskedasticity in quarterly data. Results indicate that investment growth is positively and statistically significantly associated with labor productivity growth within the same quarter, whereas the contemporaneous variation in aggregate human capital does not display a statistically distinguishable effect over the analyzed horizon. The evidence suggests that short-run productivity dynamics in Ecuador are more strongly linked to physical capital accumulation than to immediate changes in the educational structure of employment, consistent with the cumulative and medium-term nature of human capital effects on productive performance.
Keywords: labor productivity; human capital; investment; economic growth; Ecuador.
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