Education and Health are Dependent Upon Economic Growth Essay -- Socia

Since accumulation of human capital is an important contributor to economic growth, it is important to recognize factors which facilitate this accumulation, and how does human resource transform to the more viable human capital? Central to this transformation are two elements; education and health care, where the attainment and improvement of these, is seen directly influencing labour productivity. From this cause effect relationship we can make a ‘logical assumption’ that improvement in human resources leads to economic growth (Dreze and Sen 2002; Rivera and Currais 1998). In light of this assumption, the aim of this essay is to determine the policies which could be used to successfully shift to a virtuous mutual cycle between economic growth, improved health, and education by articulating the impact of education and health as independent, and co-dependent variables on economic growth and vice-versa Educated individuals have higher employment rates since the labour skill of an educated person is more significant than that of an illiterate person, so he/she is able to generate a higher income than the latter, and his/her contribution to economic growth is thus consequently, more(Pritchett 1996). Education not only benefits the individual by making him more marketable, it can also be credited with improving the quality of an economy since the availability of educated labour gives entrepreneurs and firms the impetus to explore new markets, set up new industries, and adopt new technologies (Fasih 2008). While the monetary benefit of education is the primary reason for its acquisition, the positive externalities attached to its attainment i.e. the self-confidence and feeling of empowerment that comes with the ability to make info... ...ucational Tourism: Understanding the Concept, Recognising the Value. [online] Available at: http://www.insights.org.uk/articleitem.aspx?title=Educational%20Tourism:%20Understanding%20the%20Concept,%20Recognising%20the%20Value [Accessed: 16 Mar 2012]. Pritchett, L. (2012) Where Has All the Education Gone?. [online] Available at: http://wber.oxfordjournals.org/content/15/3/367.full.pdf [Accessed: 12 Mar 2012]. Ravallion, M. (2004) Pro-Poor growth:A primer. [online] Available at: http://web.usal.es/~bustillo/RavallionPPGPrimer.pdf [Accessed: 13 March 2012]. Taylor and Francis Online (1998) Economic growth and health: direct impact or reverse causation?. [online] Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/135048599352367 [Accessed: 13 March 2012]. Tilak, J. (2006) On Allocating 6 per Cent of GDP to Education. [online] [Accessed: 12 Mar 2012].