Abstract
This study is to clarify whether education makes a contribution to the economy. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal data were used. Percentage of age group enrolled in tertiary education of 82 countries in 1991 and 1989, and Gross National Products (GNP) per capita of these countries in 1992 and 1989 were used as cross-sectional data for linear and nonlinear regression analysis. The purpose is to examine whether the non-significant effect of educational indices on economic indices is due to collinearity among independent variables in the regression equation. Time-series data of (a) GNP per capita, (b) average educational expenditure per student, and (c) total number of graduates of vocational high schools, junior colleges, colleges, and universities were used as longitudinal data to analyze the cross-correlation functions among them. Results show that: (a) the non-significant effect of educational index on economic index is caused by collinearity, (b) the number of graduates of vocational high schools, junior colleges, colleges and universities, which constitutes the human capita for economic development, has one-directional influence on GNP per capita, but not vice versa. GNP per capita has also one-directional influence on the average educational expenditure per student, and the average educational expenditure per student has concurrent correlation with the total number of graduates of vocational high schools, junior colleges, colleges and universities. These findings support the theory of human capital.
| Keywords: | human capital; cultural capital; time-series analysis; cross-correlation function |
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