Human capital formation and economic growth across the world: a panel data econometric approach

Abstract

This paper estimates 12 dynamic panel data models to assess the impact of human capital formation and other key variables on the economic growth of 52 countries over a 13-year period. Several methodological and empirical contributions are made to assemble country groups, lower measurement errors and reduce the omitted variable bias while keeping the models parsimonious. Among other things, the evidence indicates that the responsiveness of economic growth to physical capital accumulation, institutional development, human capital formation, and total factor productivity varies across country groups to a certain extent. The policy implications of these findings are relevant on several grounds.