Human Capital and Economic Growth: A Panel Data Analysis with Health and Education for MENA Region

This article analyzes the relation between economic growth and human capital for the period between 1990 and 2011 in 15 MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries. The authors rely on The Augmented Solow Model as it is used in Mankiw et. al. (1992). However, the statistical analysis is panel-data for countries. Human capital is represented separately by health and by education. The findings show that in MENA countries, when education quality is improved, the GDP per capita would increase, thus growth can be much effective. It is also noted that both in terms of health and education the public spending for human capital has no significance on GDP per capita. The decision makers of countries may pay attention, if effective growth process takes part in their agenda for development strategies.