Articles
| Open Access |
DOI: EFFECTS OF HUMAN CAPITAL ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN BENIN
André Houndjo , National School Of Applied Economics And Management, University Of Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, BeninAbstract
The development of human capital is a lever for sustainable economic growth. This study analyzes the importance of human capital in the process of economic growth in Benin. It was carried out on time series from 1990 to 2020. The analysis was based on the Toda Yamamoto causality test, and estimates were made using an autoregressive lag-staggered model (ARDL). The causality test reveals that spending on education causes gross domestic product per capita. The estimates show that education spending has a negative influence on the country's economic growth, while health spending and the gross secondary school enrolment rate have a positive influence in both the short and long term. However, these variables do not have a significant effect on gross domestic product per capita in the long term, while in the short term, it is only health spending that does not have a significant effect on Benin's economic growth.
Keywords
Human capital, economic growth, causality test
References
World Bank. (2019). World development report 2019: Work in flux.
Barro, R. J. (1991). Economic growth in a cross section of countries. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 106(2), 407-443.
Barro, R. J. (1997). Determinants of economic growth: A cross-country empirical study. MIT Press.
Barro, R. J., & Lee, J. W. (2019). Education matters: Global schooling gains from the 19th to the 21st century. Journal of Economic Growth, 24(4), 365-393.
Becker, G. S. (1964). Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to education. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Becker, G. S. (1975). ). Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education. University of Chicago Press.
Benhabib, J., & Spiegel, M. (2019). Intergenerational education spillovers, human capital accumulation, and economic growth. Journal of Political Economy, 127(4), 1660-1707.
Benhabib, J., & Spiegel, M. M. (1994). The role of human capital in economic development: Evidence from aggregate cross-country data. Journal of Monetary Economics, 34(2), 143-173.
Bhorat, H., Hirsch, A., & Kanbur, R. (Eds. ). (2016). The Oxford companion to the economics of South Africa. Oxford University Press.
Bhorat, H., Hirsch, A., Kanbur, R., & Ncube, M. (Eds. ). (2018). The Oxford companion to the economics of South Africa. Oxford University Press.
Bhorat, H., & Oosthuizen, M. (2015). Economic policy and employment outcomes in South Africa. Oxford University Press.
Blau, F. D., & Ferber, M. A. (1992a). Becker's theory of the family: Preposterous conclusions. Prentice Hall. In The economics of women, men, and work (, 87-103.
Blau, F. D., & Ferber, M. A. (Eds. ). (1992b). The economics of women, men, and work. Prentice Hall.
Caselli, F. (2005). Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences. In Handbook of Economic Growth, 1, 679-741.
UNCTAD. (2021). Development policy handbook: human capital for sustainable industrialization. United Nations.
Drèze, J., & Murthy, N. (2001). Crime, Gender, and Society in India: Insights from Homicide Data. Population and Development Review, 27(2), 277-305.
Folbre, N. (1994a). The limits of Becker's theory of the family. Routledge. In Who pays for the kids? Gender and the structures of constraint, 52-75.
Folbre, N. (1994b). Who pays for the kids? Gender and the structures of constraint. Routledge.
Hanushek, E. A., & Woessmann, L. (2015). The knowledge capital of nations: Education and the economics of growth. MIT Press.
Hanushek, E. A., & Woessmann, L. (2018). Schooling, educational achievement, and the Latin American growth puzzle. Journal of Development Economics, 134, 366-385.
Harrod, R. F. (1960). Towards a Dynamic Economics: Some Recent Developments of Economic Theory and their Application to Policy (2nd ed.). London : Macmillan.
Lucas, R. E. (1988). On the mechanics of economic development. Journal of Monetary Economics, 22(1), 3-42.
Lucas, R. E. (2015). Human capital and growth. American Economic Review, 105(5), 85-88.
Mankiw, N. G., Romer, D., & Weil, D. N. (1992). A contribution to the empirics of economic growth. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(2), 407-437.
Marshall, Alfred (1920). Principles of Economics. Macmillan and Co, 9th edition, 1920.
Mincer, J. (1993a). Becker's theory of the allocation of time. Journal of Labor Economics, 11(1), S141-S159.
Mincer, J. (1993b). Family investments in human capital: Earnings of women. Journal of Labor Economics, 11(1), S141-S159.
Murphy, K. M., & Tamura, R. (1995). Human capital, fertility, and economic growth. Journal of political economy, 103(5), 1067-1090.
Nelson, R. R., & Phelps, E. S. (1966). Investment in Humans, Technological Diffusion, and Economic Growth. The American Economic Review, 56(1/2), 69-75.
OECD. (2019). "Human capital: How skills and knowledge drive economic growth", OECD Publishing, Paris.
O'Neill, J. (2003a). Becker's theory of the allocation of time reconsidered. Journal of Labor Economics, 21(3), 473-490.
O'Neill, J. (2003b). Gender and economic outcomes in an era of change. Journal of Labor Economics, 21(3), 473-490.
Romer, P. M. (1994). The origins of endogenous growth. Journal of economic perspectives, 8(1), 3-22.
Schultz, T. W. (1961a). Investment in human capital. The American economic review, 51(1), 1-17.
Schultz, T. W. (1961b). Investment in Man: An Economist's View. The University of Chicago Press.
Schultz, T. W. (1971). ). Investment in Human Capital: The Role of Education and of Research. The Journal of Political Economy, 79(2), 1-17.
Schultz, T. W. (1997). Assessing the productive benefits of nutrition and health: An integrated human capital approach. Journal of Econometrics, 77(1), 141-158.
Schumpeter, J. A. (1950). The Process of Creative Destruction. In R. V. Clemence (Ed.), Essays on Entrepreneurs, Innovations, Business Cycles, and the Evolution of Capitalism (pp. 82-85). Transaction Publishers. 82-85.
Sen, A. (1977). Rational Fools: A Critique of the Behavioral Foundations of Economic Theory. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 6(4), 317-344.
Smith, A. (1776). The Wealth of Nations.
Solow, R. M. (1956). A contribution to the theory of economic growth. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 70(1), 65-94.
Solow, R. M. (1970). Growth theory: An exposition. Oxford University Press.
Article Statistics
Copyright License
Copyright (c) 2023 André Houndjo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain the copyright of their manuscripts, and all Open Access articles are disseminated under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC-BY), which licenses unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is appropriately cited. The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations.