The contribution of human capital to the economic development of Cameroon, 1980-2018

Abstract. The paper examines the contribution of human capital to the economic development of Cameroon from 1980¬-2018. To achieve this objective, data were collected from World Bank Development Indicators, for Cameroon, covering the period of 1980-2018. The error correction mechanism model was used to analyse the data using STATA 14 econometric software package. The results show that human capital has a positive and significant relationship with economic development in Cameroon. The findings suggest that gross school enrolment and labour force participation had slowed down economic development in Cameroon. The study recommends that given a significant coefficient of human capital on economic development in Cameroon, the government should create an enabling environment to reinforce the implementation of gross school enrolment, health expenditure and labour force participation policies to accelerate the process of economic development in the country. Keywords. Asset, Education, Employment, Expenditure, Health. JEL. D39, H52, I15, I25, J21.