Human Capital Development and Economic Growth in Developing Economies

Abstract

The perceptible contribution of human capital in economic growth in an economy cannot be exaggerated. Human capital is the essential resource needed in every sector of an economy. Unfortunately, for many decades human capital development has been saddled with multifarious challenges that has hampered economic growth in many economies; with less developed economies suffering the effect of poorly developed human capital the most. This study was conducted to investigate the impact of human capital on economic growth in West Africa, specifically Ghana over a period of 40 years. The researchers used secondary data on human capital development and economic growth that was extracted from the economic data of Ghana Statistical Service, the World Bank, journals of economic studies and the Bank of Ghana Research Unit. The researchers applied ordinary least squares regression to estimate the models and also perform data analysis. In the end, it was found out that human capital whether it is developed or under developed has a tremendous impact on the growth of an economy both in the short and long term. The findings of this study hold important policy implications for countries in West Africa, specifically Ghana.