The Role of Human Capital in Economic Growth in Coastal Provinces of Southern Central Vietnam

Abstract

To examine the role of human capital in economic growth in coastal provinces of Southern Central Vietnam (SCV), the research employs data from balance sheets of eight provinces in this region and a neoclassical growth model with an extended Cobb-Douglas production function including the following variables: output, capital, labor, human capital and other macroeconomic variables that have effects on economic development. The estimation results based on the fixed effect model show that the economic growth is affected by capital, labor, human capital, FDI, public expenditure, and agricultural production. Of this variable, the human capital is represented by average schooling year of laborers with an estimated effect of nearly 0.43% per a one-percent increase in the average schooling year.