Efektywność inwestycji publicznych w kapitał ludzki
The Effectiveness of Public Investment in Human Capital

Summary/Abstract: Human capital is one of the major factors responsible for economic development; investments made in the human capital add to the wealth of nations, accelerating civilization progress and increasing international competitiveness. The aim of the article is to assess the effectiveness of public investments in human capital in the EU member countries using the linear programming method called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The contents of the paper include: (1) the role of human capital in economic growth and development; (2) methodological assumptions of the DEA procedure; (3) the model used for the assessment of public investments made in the human capital; (4) discussion of the results. The research was made using the DEA-BCC-O procedure (a model assuming constant returns to scale, focussing on the effects). The results suggest that, among the 25 EU countries (except Cyprus and Malta), there are no significant differences in the effectiveness of public expenditure for human capital build-up. The DEA method made it possible to distinguish a group of 15 effective economies in this respect, including Poland. This is a positive signal indicating that the condition of human capital in Poland is adequate to the financial means allotted to its build-up. Assessing the effectiveness of investments made in human capital with the DEA method, we assess technical efficiency, which shows the extent to which the invested means have been transformed into the health and knowledge potential of the society as expressed by the adopted diagnostic characteristics. Therefore, the country found to be most efficient may not necessarily be the same as the country marked by the highest levels of health care and education system. And vice versa, the lowest technical efficiency does not mean the poorest health or educational system; it only suggests that public funds assigned for health care and education in the given country are not used in the best possible way. The results of the analysis represent a contribution to the debate on public finance reforms and the desired model of health care and educational system.

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