Effect of Expenditures on Education, Human Capital Development and Economic Growth in Nigeria

Abstract

<p>Earlier studies on economic growth asserts that economic prosperity and functioning of a nation depends on its physical and human capital stock in form of knowledge acquired and an agent of national development in all countries of the world. Therefore, the need to examine the effect of expenditures on education, human capital development on economic growth in Nigeria. This study focuses on public expenditures on the education with a view to ascertain the relative commitments of the governments to this sector.</p><p> </p><p>This study covers the period of 1970-2015, employing an ex-post facto research design using time series data. The data used for this study are obtained mainly from secondary data which is quantitative in nature. The study employs descriptive statistics to assess the contributions of government expenditure on education, government expenditure on health, tertiary school enrolment, secondary school enrollment, primary school enrolment on gross domestic product. Also, Unit Root Test is conducted on the series to ascertain if they are stationary while co-integration test follows suit, to also ascertain the long run relationship between expenditure on education and human capital development on economic growth. The Johansen Cointegration test and Error Correction Mechanism estimated model found that that there is no significant effect of expenditure on education and human capital development on economic growth in Nigeria.</p><p> </p>