Abstract:

While the contribution of human capital to economic development has long been generally accepted in the economic literature, it has been better understood especially with Lucas' human capital model, which is one of the internal growth models. Well-educated, healthy and qualified labor force contributes to economic growth and development by producing new technologies, using new technologies more effectively and ensuring efficient use of resources. Therefore, countries which have adequate physical capital investments and suitable conditions for human capital development are growing and developing much more easily. In this context, investigating the relationship between human capital and economic growth is worth to investigating with realities of each economic period. As for Turkey, it is very important to investigate the relationship between these two concepts, especially in order to see the effects of the human capital concept frequently mentioned in recent policies. In this study, the relationship between human capital and economic growth is examined with ADF unit root, VAR analysis and Johansen co-integration tests for Turkey, period of 1980-2019. As a result of the empirical analysis, cointegration relationship between human capital and economic growth is determined in the long run. the results obtained indicate that the increases in human capital affect economic growth positively.

Keywords: