Direct and Indirect Effects of Human Capital on World Development, 1960-2004
Author(s)
Guisan, M. Carmen; Neira, I.
Abstract
Guisan and Neira analyze the main positive effects of human capital on economic development, taking into account direct and indirect relationships between the educational level of population and real GDP per inhabitant. They present a selected list of international studies published during the period 1967-2006, highly relevant for the analysis of the following questions: 1) Education and the production function. 2) Education in models with miscellaneous sets of explanatory variables. 3) Education and investment per inhabitant. 4) Education, fertility and economic development. 5) Education and social capital. 6) Human capital, industry and foreign trade. 7) Human capital models and regional development. Guisan and Neira also analyze the relationship between education and development in America, Europe, Eurasia, Africa and Asia-Pacific and present an estimation of international econometric models. The main conclusion is that there are several interrelationships between the main variables related with economic development (increase of human and social capital, moderation of demographic growth, industrial development and foreign trade among others), and that we should be aware of the direct and indirect effects. The authors highly recommend more international cooperation in order to help less developed countries to increase the educational level of population as well as to improve other factors of development.
