This study is set out to investigate the linkages between economic growth and human capital by gender and level of education. The panel data was averaged at 7 points based on a sample of 62 countries spanning over the years 1970 to 1999. The Dynamic Panel System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) was employed on an Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) to analyze the effect of gender on the economic growth, which is the best method given the short time period and large cross sectional characteristic. Control variables such as gross capital formation, export volume, population and year effects were also decoded in order to obtain a more accurate and robust result trend. The data relating to economic variables of interest was extracted from the World Development Index 2007 and the data relating to human capital was taken from the study done by Barro and Lee (2000). The indicators for human capital include number of secondary school graduates and high school graduates according to gender. Findings reveal that females with high school as their highest education level, significantly contributed towards the economic growth, contributing approximately 3.35%. However the results also point out that the male secondary school graduates contributed to the countries’ development more significantly as compared to the female, whereby the formers’ contribution towards the economic development is approximately 5%, ceteris paribus. These results further strengthens the ideology that human capital is indeed an important component, at different levels, and it is this vital component which drives economic growth. An adequate and efficient form of funding or investment is required in order to improve the education industry, which will consequently benefit every other industry thus strengthening the economy.

This study investigates the linkages between economic growth and human capital. It employs the dynamic panel system GMM estimators, focusing on secondary school and higher school education as the proxy for human capital. The data was averaged to 7 points based on a sample of 62 countries spanning from year 1970-1999. The data was extracted from the World Development Index 2007 and study by Barro and Lee (2010). The results are particularly interesting, contrary to the expectation; only the high school graduates affect the growth while the secondary school graduates show insignificant. With disaggregation of countries based on the stages of economic development, high school show greater effect. These results further strengthens the grounds that human capital is indeed an important component and acts as an engine for economic growth.