THE IMPACT OF HUMAN CAPITAL ON ECONOMIC GROWTH. THE CASE OF ROMANIA: 1990-2002*

by Caraiani, Petre
Published in Romanian Journal of Economic Forecasting, 2004, volume 5 issue 3, 5-16

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study and quantify the impact of the human capital in the process of economic growth in Romania over the 1990-2002 period. We will consider an augmented Cobb-Douglas production function to include the human capital, approximated by the number of schooling years per capita in the labor force. Building a comparison between a theoretical and a hypothetical GDP will outline the impact of the human capital upon the economic growth.
(*This is the revised version of the paper submitted to the International Development Center of Japan for completion of the Development Policies Course, 2003, Tokyo, Japan).

Keywords: Cobb-Douglas production function, transition economies, human capital, economic growth models
JEL Classification: J21, O41