Human Capital in the Sub Saharan African Countries: Productivity and the Policy Implications
Human Capital in the Sub Saharan African Countries: Productivity and the Policy Implications

Summary/Abstract: This paper investigates the contribution of higher education human capital to productivity in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries by measuring higher education human capital in two variables: higher education enrolment (HEE) and higher education graduations (HEG). The paper analysesa panel data of 30 SSA countries for the period 1980 -2015 using, a fixed effect Least Square Dummy Variable (LSDV) model, and a System Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) model to verify empirically the claim that higher education human capital improves productivity in SSA. It is found that the impact of higher education (both HEE and HEG) on total factor productivity (TFP) in sub-Saharan Africa is mixed as it is positive for HEE and negative for HEG. The results on the impact of HEG suggest that higher education sector suffers from inadequate human capital that might not be put to use for productive purposes. These results imply that the higher education in SSA needs to target skills that are more appropriate to the economies in these countries.

• Details
• Contents