Human capital, economic growth and development: New evidence

International audienceIn spite of the essential role conferred to human capital by endogenous growth theorists, various empirical approaches called into question these theories. Recently, Aghion and Cohen (2003) underline the fact that according to the degree of development of a country, the role of education is different. Following our preceding study on the European countries (Diebolt & Jaoul, 2004a; Jaoul, 2004a), the aim of this paper is to determine the type of relation existing between higher education and economic growth. We carry out a cliometric study aiming, on the one hand, to test the contributions of endogenous growth theories and, on the other hand, to highlight the assumption formulated by Aghion & Cohen i.e. the relation varies from one country to another according to the degree of development. Our article is articulated into three parts: after a recall of the theoretical framework (1), we present the data base and the methodology used (2). Then we discuss our empirical results (3) and finally we propose a new model explaining relationships between higher education and economic growth