Abstract:
The study empirically examined the impact of human capital development in the form of government
expenditures on health and education as well as the impact of population growth on economic
growth of Nigeria over the period of study (1980-2017). The study employed the Augmented
Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Philips Peron (PP) techniques to test for the unit root or stationarity of the
data. To test for the long run relationship between the dependent variable and other explanatory
variables Johanssen Joselius cointegration technique was employed. Error Correction Method (ECM)
was also applied. Other diagnostic tests such as D.W test for autocorrelation, Breusch-pegan
Heteroskedasticity, Cusum and Cusum of square were also employed to check the stability and fit of
the model. The empirical results revealed that; population growth has a positive and significant
impact on the economic growth of Nigeria, expenditure on education has a positive but weak impact
on economic growth of Nigeria. Result also revealed a negative relationship between health
expenditure and economic growth. The study suggests that policies should be drafted and
implemented to ensure that investment in education and health is fully and efficiently utilized in
order to achieve a sustainable economic growth.
|
