Empirical Study On The Role Of Human Capital To Economic Growth In Guangdong Province

The rapid economic growth of Guangdong Province after the reform and opening up was achieved in the mode of "high input, high consumption, high pollution and low efficiency". We must find a new engine to guarantee the sustainable economic growth of Guangdong Province. The new economic growth theory and human capital theory have proved that the investment and accumulation of human capital serve as the basis to maintain a sustainable economic growth. For this reason, the research on the role of human capital to the economic growth in Guangdong Province and the measures to enhance the positive influence of human capital undoubtedly has great practical meaning.This thesis firstly overviews the economic development of Guangdong Province and analyses its human capital from three aspects. They are the population status, the quality of human capital and the distribution of human capital. The research shows that the quality of human capital in Guangdong Province has improved over time, but there are still big gaps compared to some advanced provinces and cities. The human capital is distributed between urban and rural areas as well as among different regions in an uneven way. Besides, the quality of human capital in three industries is all relatively low.The thesis then applies the cointegration theory and the Malmquist index established by Fare et al. in 1994 to conduct an empirical study. The study shows that in 1978 to 2008, every 1% increase in human capital caused a 2% increase in GDP; in 1994 to 2008, every 1% increase in human capital caused a 0.025% increase in technological advancement.Basing on the above qualitative and quantitative analysis, the thesis finally proposes some suggestions on how to use human capital to achieve a sustainable economic growth in Guangdong Province.