Based on the data of China’s 28 provinces and regions during 1987-2007, this paper is trying to explore the role of the composition of the human capital on the economic growth with the spatial effect among provinces. The results indicate that there are significant spatial effects of human capital and economic growth in China; there is a significant positive correlation between the GDP per capita and the average schooling years; when the education of human capital is divided into primary education, secondary education and higher education, only the higher education and the primary education show significantly positive correlation with the GDP per capita.
Romer, P. (1986) Increasing Returns and Long-Run Growth. Journal of Political Economy, 94, 1002-1037. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/261420
Romer, P. (1987) Growth Based on Increasing Returns Due to Specialization. American Economic Review, 77, 56-62.
Wolff, E.N. (2000) Human Capital Investment and Economic Growth: Exploring the Cross-Country Evidence. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 11, 433-472. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0954-349X(00)00030-8
de la Fuente, A. and Ciccone, A. (2003) Human Capital in a Global and Knowledge-Based Economy—Final Report. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.
Pritchett, L. and Filmer, D. (1999) What Education Production Functions Really Show: A Positive Theory of Education Expenditures. Economics of Education Review, 18, 223-239. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0954-349X(00)00030-8
Krueger, A.B. and Lindahl, M. (2000) Education for Growth: Why and for Whom? Journal of Economic Literature, 39, 1101-1136. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/jel.39.4.1101
Vandenbussche, J., Aghion, P. and Meghir, C. (2006) Growth, Distance to Frontier and Composition of Human Capital. Journal of Economic Growth, 11, 97-127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10887-006-9002-y
Mamuneas, T.P., Savvides, A. and Stengos, T. (2005) Economic Development and the Return to Human Capitals: A Smooth Coefficient Semi-Parametric Approach. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 21, 111-132. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jae.813
Becker, G.S. (1962) Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis. Journal of Political Economy, 70, 9-49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/258724
Rey, S.J. and Montouri, B.D. (1999) US Regional Income Convergence: A Spatial Econometric Perspective. Regional Studies, 33, 146-156. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00343409950122945
Durlauf, S.N. and Quah, D.T. (1999) Chapter 4. The New Empirics of Economic Growth. In: Taylor, J.B. and Woodford, M., Eds., Handbook of Macroeconomics, Vol. 1, Part A, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 235-308.
de la Fuente, A. (1997) The Empirics of Growth and Convergence: A Selective Review. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 21, 23-73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0165-1889(95)00925-6
Conley, T.G. and Topa, G. (2002) Socio-Economic Distance and Spatial Patterns in Unemployment. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 17, 303-327.
Ertur, C. and Koch, W. (2006) Regional Disparities in the European Union and the Enlargement Process: An Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis, 1995-2000. The Annals of Regional Science, 40, 723-765. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00168-006-0062-x
Moreno, R. and Trehan, B. (1997) Location and the Growth of Nations. Journal of Economic Growth, 2, 399-418. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1009741426524
Xiao, Z.-Y. (2010) Human Capital, Spatial Spillover and Regional Economic Growth. Finance & Economics, 3, 61-68.
Li, M., Zhang, Y.-L. and Zhang, G.-P. (2007) An Empirical Study on Regional Distributing Disparities of Chinese Human Capital. Education & Economy, 1, 12-17.
Lin, G.-P., Long, Z.-H. and Wu, M. (2005) A Spatial Analysis of Regional Economic Convergence in China: 1978-2002. China Economic Quarterly, No. S1, 67-82.
Wu, Y.-M. (2007) Agglomeration and Differences of County Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis of Spatial Econometrics. World Economic Papers, No. 2.
Sun, Y. (2007) Strategies of Industrial Development and Spatial Convergence: A Comparative Analysis of “Chang San Jiao”, “Zhu San Jiao” and “Huanbohai” Districts. Nankai Economic Studies, No. 1.
Gu, J.-F. (2008) Spatial Analysis of Education Development and Economy Development. China Population Resources and Environment, No. 6.
Bian, Y.-J. and Shen, L.-S. (2004) Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Human Capital on Economic Growth in East and West. Quantitative & Technical Economics, No. 12.
Fleisher, B.M. and Chen, J. (1997) The Coast-Noncoast Income Gap, Productivity, and Regional Economic Policy in China. Journal of Comparative Economics, 25, 220-236. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jcec.1997.1462
Chen, J. and Fleisher, B.M. (1996) Regional Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China. Journal of Comparative Economics, 22, 141-164. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jcec.1996.0015
Wei, Y.-Q., Liu, X.-M., Song, H.-Y. and Romilly, P. (2001) Endogenous Innovation Growth Theory and Regional Income Convergence in China. Journal of International Development, 13, 153-168. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jid.721
Chi, W. (2008) The Role of Human Capital in China’s Economic Development: Review and New Evidence. China Economic Review, 19, 421-436. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2007.12.001
Fleisher, B., Li, H.-Z. and Zhao, M.-Q. (2010) Human Capital, Economic Growth, and Regional Inequality in China. Journal of Development Economics, 92, 215-231. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2009.01.010
Zhang, J., Wu, G.-Y. and Zhang, J.-P. (2004) The Estimation of China’s Provincial Capital Stock: 1952-2000. Economic Research Journal, 10, 35-44.
Keller, A., Nesvizhskii, A.I., Kolker, E. and Aebersold, R. (2002) Empirical Statistical Model to Estimate the Accuracy of Peptide Identifications Made by MS/MS and Database Search. Analytical Chemistry, 74, 5383-5392.
Fu, M. (2009) Geographical Distance and Technological Spillover Effects: A Spatial Econometric Explanation of Technological and Economic Agglomeration Phenomena. China Economic Quarterly, 8, 1549-1566.
Cohen, D. and Soto, M. (2007) Growth and Human Capital: Good Data, Good Results. Economic Growth, 12, 51-76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10887-007-9011-5