No linearities and threshold effects in the human capital-economic growth relationship

This paper analyzes the relationship between human capital and growth (considering the first through a broad approach involving health and education) for 86 countries from 1960-2010. The objective is to evaluate the presence of nonlinearities and the threshold effects by using parametric and semiparametric panel techniques. The results show: a) well-known evidence of nonlinearities in education, with a range of average values of education (and income) for which the relation is negative (threshold effects); b) evidence of nonlinearities for health, although the effect is smoother; and c) great dispersion in the education-growth relationship at medium and high levels of income.