Human Capital Distribution, Technological Progress, and Economic Growth

This paper analyses the interaction between the distribution of human capital, technological progress, and economic growth. It demonstrates the significant role of the distribution of human capital in the process of economic development. The evolutionary pattern of the human capital distribution, the income distribution and economic growth are determined by the interplay between a local home environment externality and a global technological externality. In periods during which the home environment externality is the dominating factor, the distribution of human capital becomes polarized, whereas in periods during which the global technological externality dominates, convergence ultimately takes place. The study suggests that a poor uneducated economy which values equity as well as prosperity may confront a trade-off between equity in the short run and equity and prosperity in the long run. An economy that prematurely implements a policy designed to enhance equality may be trapped at a low output equilibrium.